ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
May 27, 2022
Yesterday, I was going through some social media when I started coming across photos Facebook friends had posted of their children who were headed to school for their last day before Summer Break. I enjoyed coming across post after post of smiling and excited faces. I continued to scroll, only to come across a post with the images of the children killed at the Elementary School in Uvalde. My first reaction was to scroll past it as if I had not seen it, searching for other posts of children who would soon be enjoying their first day of Summer Break. But I could not. Something inside of me required my eyes to be affixed to the innocence of those faces who trusted us as adults to provide them a space where they could flourish as children.
This Sunday is Ascension Sunday, the day in the Church Year when we remember Jesus’ return to heaven and the disciples mesmerized as he was lifted into the sky. In fact, it required the voices of two messengers to draw the gaze of the disciples back to earth. It was the voices who gave instructions to the disciples who were lost and uncertain of a way forward.
How many of us are looking in the wrong direction, casting our gaze upon the wrong things in this moment? How many of us are seeking a distraction, hoping to avoid the implications of a horrific event that was avoidable? Part of the instructions given to the disciples was for them to wait for the Spirit, the Spirit of God that comes like a fire to burn away all the excuses and disingenuous expressions of grief. The Spirit is coming with a word of judgment, a word of grace, and a question of what you will do differently moving forward.
This Sunday, we will not avoid the reality of this moment. We will not cast our vision months into the future where our imagination can escape the thought of children who will never enjoy another Summer Vacation. Instead, we will seek the God who calls our attention to be fully present in the here and now, where we will wait for divine instruction on what faithfulness to the life of Jesus will look like moving forward. Yes, we will pray! And yes, we will listen for a message of what we are to do next. And yes, we will act with courage and hope.
I hope you will be in worship this Sunday.
With some trepidation, O Lord, I seek you in this moment and listen to how your love and mercy, justice and healing will find an enfleshing in your church. Amen.
