Millbrook Baptist Church

When the choir sings, when the people smile, when the peace is passed, when the ushers and greeters offer hugs, when Dorcas completes another quilt, or Gerald files another of Gloria’s treasures into the library catalog, or Ellen flies by us like a hummingbird seeking to beautify the next thing that needs tending on the grounds, or we hear crockpots clanking at the potluck supper, the Spirit has new voice, new expression, new language. The winds blow at our backs, the flame warms our hearts, the ground shakes beneath us. Easter, and Ascension, and Pentecost are as new as ever. Good news, Millbrook, the Spirit has arrived, the Church has been born. It’s our birthday! We can celebrate in every language, every day of the year. May we speak this good news this day and every day.  Amen.

The Ascension was not the conclusion of the redemptive work of Jesus. It marked the handing over of his mission and ministry to his disciples and in turn to their disciples and on down the line to include each of us gathered here. It is an opportunity for all of us, generation to generation, to share the love of Jesus with someone else. Today we focus not on Jesus’ departure from us but on his continued presence among us. That is the paradox – in his ascending we know the presence of Jesus through the gift of the Holy Spirit that descends on us and blesses our lives.

Here’s what I believe today’s text is asking us to do. It’s simple to identify, credential, and celebrate a form of love that is clearly defined. Jesus loves me, this I know. Because I see him. And I hug him. And he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own. And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known. But so much of what we experience is not defined, not binary, not precise, not exacting. The Spirit gives us the tools to engage all that which is fluid. We do not seek to define motherhood; we seek to acknowledge and affirm what is mothering. We do not define worship, or prayer, or Church. We seek to acknowledge that which brings us closer to God and one another, that which helps us to express our true selves. We do not seek to define love, we seek to value that which is lovely.