NOTE: 05/09/2013 ~ Ascension readings are: Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47 or Psalm 93; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 24:44-53.
Standing Around
“Galileans— why are you standing looking at the sky?” — Acts 1:11a.
There are some who might accuse me of being a Biblical scholar. Let me assure you nothing could be further from the truth. Do I know more than the average bear about the Bible? Probably.
You see, most Main Line churches require pastors to get 90 a credit Master’s Degree— graduate credits— before that pastor can be ordained. A comparison: in many schools a law degree runs about 85 credits. Needless to say, academic study of Scripture is a large chunk of the Master’s Degree credits achieved by a pastor.
But— back to the original thought— am I a Biblical scholar? No. How do I know that? I know that because I have been in the presence of real Biblical scholars.
To use one example, a seminary professor or mine, Burt Throckmorton, was a Biblical Scholar. Burt would stand in front of a class and the book in his hands would be the New Testament written in Ancient Greek.
What we lowly students had in front of us was the regular, plain vanilla, New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. And what Burt said, as he translated into English on the fly, was exactly what the NRSV said word for word. Now that, as far as I am concerned, defines a Biblical scholar. (Slight pause.)
Dr. Greg Carey, Professor of New Testament at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, recently published an article with a story about a Yale seminar. The seminar was for just faculty and grad students. The topic was the Bible. A highly accomplished biblical scholar lectured on the use of language in Second Corinthians.
The presentation set forth a proposal for identifying the opponents Paul was addressing in that work, Second Corinthians. The discussion involved multiple levels and many, many details.
Like many scholarly inquiries, the conclusions made were far from obvious. During a time for questions, a faculty member spoke up: “My mother reads Second Corinthians as if Paul were writing to her. What’s wrong with that?” (Slight pause.)
That seems like a perfectly legitimate question. Many ordinary Christians do without biblical scholarship, or with little exposure to it, and have done so forever. In many church settings people read the Bible for themselves. Moreover, countless millions have lived exemplary lives of charity and piety without recourse to scholarly ruminations. And, of course, this is also true: biblical scholars are no more saintly than anyone else. [1] (Slight pause.)
On the other hand, what if a person grew up in Alabama in the 1930s and interpreted the Bible as forbidding interracial marriage and as supportive of segregation? Indeed, what if a Biblical scholar grew up in Alabama in the 1930s and interpreted the Bible as forbidding interracial marriage and as supportive of segregation?
That concept is not far fetched. It happened. In fact, apartheid officially ended in South Africa only in 1990. And there were religious leaders in South Africa who gave support to apartheid. (Slight pause.)
So, perhaps the real question to be asked has to do not with scholarship. The real question has to do with basic assumptions. (Slight pause.)
And these words are from the work known as Luke/Acts in the section commonly called Acts: “Galileans— why are you standing looking at the sky?” (Slight pause.)
When I was a High School Freshman taking a class in World History at a Parochial High School the teacher, in an offhanded way, said the Book of Luke and the Book of Acts was really one work written by the same author at the same time. Because I heard that, I got the Bible down off my parents bookshelf and read the two books as if they were one.
It was an eye opening experience. Why? I learned some basics. This is what I found out: the narrative first tells about the activity of Jesus, who is the Christ, and second tells about the activity of the Holy Spirit. It’s that simple. It’s that basic. (Slight pause.)
The story we read today is at the end of the post-resurrection stories, the stories about the Christ. It is a prelude before the actions of the Spirit are related. In terms of the whole story, it marks a transition point from Easter to Pentecost. It’s that simple. It’s that basic.
And I happen think this transition is pivotal. Again, that question: why? The question posed by the messengers is key. (Quote:) “...why are you standing looking at the sky?” Put differently, it could be said this way: “What you do is up to you. But please do something. Don’t just stand around and do nothing.”
So what did they do? This is clear as the story continues after today’s reading: they went off together and prayed. For what did they pray? It does not really tell us.
But, having prayed, they got organized. They chose someone from among the disciples to replace Judas. And then they prayed some more and they waited for the Spirit. They prayed. They got ready. It’s that simple. It’s that basic.
As simple and as basic as this seems, I want to suggest the power of the Spirit fell upon them because they waited on the Spirit and because they were ready. That waiting on the Spirit, that being ready did but one thing. It put them in the right place at the right time.
Let me illustrate what it might mean to be ready and in the right place at the right time. Bonnie has coffee hour today. One of her Facebook friends who belongs to the Sherburne Church posted that the church was having a pie sale from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.
Bonnie left for Sherburne at about 11 seeking a pie. The church folks had baked 48 pies. When Bonnie got there they had only 4 left. Bonnie bought a Peanut Butter pie. Now, don’t head for Coffee Hour yet, just because you want a piece of Peanut Butter pie. You need to at least wait for the closing hymn (and then I can see everybody running).
In any case, her friend told her it was raining at 10 a.m. so they were inside the church and sold nearly nothing. But it stopped raining, they went outside, set up a table and sold pies so fast it was hard to keep track of them. I don’t know if waiting for the rain to stop was like waiting on the Spirit, or if they prayed for the rain to stop. I do know they sold a lot of pies in a hurry.
They baked pies. They were ready. To be clear: waiting on the Spirit does not guarantee a successful pie sale or that the rain will stop or anything else successful. Success is not what working with the Spirit is about. Working with the Spirit is about is participation.
And that bring us back to what the messengers said: “...why are you standing looking at the sky?” The expectation of the Spirit is that we will pray and we will strive to be ready to do the work of the Dominion.
It does not matter if that work is selling pies or voting for a new Apostle or being with a friend who is sick or volunteering at the Food Pantry. To reiterate, success is not an expectation of the Spirit. Prayer and doing something— these are the expectations of the Spirit. This is a difficult lesson in our success oriented society. (Slight pause.)
There is one last thing to address. It’s that earlier question from a faculty member at Yale (quote:) “My mother reads Second Corinthians as if Paul were writing to her. What’s wrong with that?”
What’s wrong should be self evident. Paul did not write Second Corinthians to your mother or to you. Paul wrote Second Corinthians to a group living two thousand years ago.
Hence, we do need to pay attention to two things. Unless we are Biblical scholars, we ourselves will probably have a hard time unpacking Scripture, since it does take scholarship to delve into the intricacies of those who lived two thousand years ago.
But equally, I was a kid— probably 13 or 14— and I figured out that taken together Luke and Acts is about the activity of Jesus, who is the Christ, and about the activity of the Holy Spirit. That is not hard to do. It does not take scholarship.
And— you have all heard me say this before— Scripture, all Scripture, taken as a whole, is about two things and two things only. Scripture is about loving God and loving neighbor. It is that basic. It is that simple.
What is my proof? The messengers asked the disciples (quote:) “...why are you standing looking at the sky?” Again, the messengers asked them what they were doing. When, in answer to the question, what are you doing and you can say, “Well, I am doing all I can to love my neighbor” then I think you’ve also found out how really basic and really simple it is to be a Biblical Scholar.
After all to be a Biblical scholar you need to know just two things. Love God; love neighbor. Amen.
05/12/2013
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Congregational Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “When I graduated from grade school— Saint Ignatius Loyola in Manhattan— they gave out these small books with blank pages. The idea was you were to have friends and classmates sign them and say something. A page in the front was reserved for personal data— date of birth and the like. One listing was Your Personal Motto. Even to this day I know of noone in the eight grade who has a personal motto. So I made one up. ‘Pray like everything depended on God. Work like everything depended on you.’ Years later I found out the theologian Thomas Aquinas said the same thing. And, guess what? I think I just said the same thing in my comments earlier.”
BENEDICTION: We can find the presence of God in unexpected places. God’s light leads us to places we thought not possible just moments ago. God’s love abounds and will live with us throughout eternity. The grace of God is deeper than our imagination. The strength of Christ is stronger than our needs. The communion of the Holy Spirit is richer than our togetherness. May the One Triune God sustain us today and throughout the infinity of what is commonly called tomorrow. Amen.
[1] http://ht.ly/kTVdh
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