Sermon - 2014-06-01

Looking to the heavens, the clouds seem so far away.  The stars seem so far away.  And there are sometimes that God feels far away as well.  Within the Apostle’s Creed, we state that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father.  That he will come again.  Yet from the time that the disciples watched Jesus ascend to the time that he returns, can seem really far away.

Yet that is the time in which we find ourselves.  We find ourselves, looking to heaven, wondering what is God calling us to do?  When will Jesus come again?  We feel that we are stuck in the world and may even feel a distance from God.  There are many things we do not understand and we wonder why God allows us to be apart of these things.    

Why am I still suffering? Why did these bad things happen to me?  Weren’t my sins forgiven, and I am now restored to a good relationship with God?  Am I not viewed as a beloved child of God?  When we stop and dwell upon these questions, we can often focus on the vast canyon that separates us from God.  

There was once a farmer who was tilling his fields, planting the crop.  Something that he has done for decades.  He got out of his tractor to move a branch that had fallen. He had to get out because the branch was big enough that it would slow him down.  As he went and began to move this branch, he fell unexpectedly and he found himself on the ground.  This forced him to stare at the heavens above. One of the muscles in his back had spasmed and there was nothing he could do.  He lied there and wondered “Why?"

While he was lying there, he thought about the wars, the anger, the troubles of this world.  How destructive and rough this world truly is.  He began to think of how things seem to be falling apart and he had no control over it.  And then he thought of his own sons, and grandsons.  

That same farmer, crawled over to his tractor and used the steps to pick himself back up because there was work to be done.  But he was not doing the work alone.  He called his sons to help him.  The sons came over and helped him get to the doctor. He had to rest for a few days, but he would be alright.  However, now the world looked different.  He had a better sense of what he was working for and what to teach his children.  

He realized that it was for these people, his family, that he wanted to labor.  It was this reason, for family, friends, loved ones and even strangers for which Jesus is calling us to labor.  Jesus is calling us as Disciples to do the work that he himself was called to do by his Father for others.  That we bear witness to the suffering of Jesus on the cross,  but the glory that is bestowed upon Jesus Christ by the Father.  This glory was bestowed when Jesus is raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven.  Just as a farmer sees the pride and joy in his own on sons.  

As we look around, we see other disciples.  Many of them are looking to the heavens, asking the same questions.  But when we look up, we can not see what is directly around us.  We fail to see the blessings, the love, and work that God is calling us to be a part.  

I heard a preacher once talk over and over about the gifts of heaven and kept saying, “Doesn’t that sound nice.”  Heaven is a great and wonderful gift, but let us never look past this world.  For it is in this world that we bear witness to the gift of Jesus Christ.  What truly is amazing is what Jesus Christ did for me  and you on the cross, so that we could receive this gift.  That Jesus Christ knows our suffering, he knows our sins, and loves us still.  Giving us this gift even though we do not deserve it.  

So disciples of Jesus Christ, do not look to the heavens as your only reward or you will miss the blessings, the love, and glory of which God is having you be a part right now in your daily life.  

Amen.