This is Ascension Sunday; the day that Christians throughout the world celebrate the physical event of the leaving of Jesus from this earth to be forever with God. There are some individuals who wonder why Jesus had to leave us on our own. They ask others, themselves, and even God, “Why couldn’t Jesus just stay here with us forever?” The only answer that I can give is that God has created us with free will, and that it is our choice to decide who we will follow. Will we follow the ever changing teachings of this physical and fleeting world, or will we follow the path that leads to a deeper and closer relationship with our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sustainer? And if we are to follow this path of faithful service, then how do we find the path that will lead us to a deeper faith?The truth is that there are very few individuals who have ever discovered on their own a path of faith which will lead them to the presence of God. Most of us gathered here today have in the past been introduced to our Christian faith by either family or friends. I know that I was taken as a baby to a Methodist Church in Syracuse. As a young boy I worshiped with my family in the Lysander Church. As a teenager I personally made a commitment to the Evengical United Brothren Church in Mattydale. And when I finally became an adult, I joined the Saranac United Methodist Church.
We all have a history of searching for our faith, and at the same time we know that there has always been the presence of witnesses along our journey. And so the question needs to be addressed: “Where did those who have witnessed to us come from?”
Jesus told those who where faithful followers, those who truly believed in him, “you will be my witnesses … to the ends of the earth.”[1] And those early disciples of Jesus did go throughout all of the world preaching Christ’s messages of forgiveness, hope, and love. But still the question comes to the minds of so many, “Where are we to find the strength and the courage to honestly speak the truth of kindness, compassion, and love in this world which all to often would truly rather worship and praise selfishness, greed, and power?”
Jesus gave us an answer. He made a promise to his disciples: “you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit”[2]. It is this genuine presence of the Holy Spirit within us that will give us the true strength and real courage to share with all of those who are around us the messages of hope and salvation.
Many people in our present society are willing to share with their friends the news about the newest products on the market; especially the ones that really are either great or a total ripe off. But what about our faith and trust in God? Are we willing to share with others?
Indeed this is the point of this time of reflection; it is now our turn to be the active and present witnesses of the truth of God’s love and the genuine power of the teachings of Jesus to all of those who are around us. Each one of us have been given gifts from God that will help us to reach out to our sisters and our brothers who either have truly not heard the promises of God or are presently struggling with the all to real challenges of this everyday world. We need to remember that sharing our faith with others is not so much an active recruiting of new disciples of Jesus as it is the concept of sharing with friends what we have discovered to be a real source of joy and comfort within our own lives.
This is Ascension Sunday. This is the day to celebrate when Jesus went back into heaven. This is the day to remember that it is now our turn to share God’s love with everyone else.
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