“Heads in the Clouds”

• Scriptural Reference: Acts 1:1-11
• May 20, 2007

Joe Liebermann goes to a Lutheran Church not far from Kansas City . He and his wife, Hilda are deeply devoted to their Christian faith, and express it in part by making sure they keep up with the lectionary readings from which the pastor, Rev. Ralph Waller, draws his sermons. They knew Ascension Sunday was coming, the Sunday when all across Christendom Christians celebrate the day Jesus was taken into heaven and read about it in the first chapter of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, what we call "Acts" for short. Joe shut his eyes and could vividly visualize Jesus rising into the clouds and the disciples standing on the Mount of Olives , heads leaning back, eyes wide with wonder, leaves rustling in the olive trees. It thrilled him to see it in his mind's eye. Then he got an idea. Wouldn't it be great if on Ascension Sunday, all the members of Trinity Lutheran Church could have the same kind of vision? He told his idea to Hilda and they did it.

That Sunday, as the congregation came in, they looked up. There, resting against the high, arched apex of the beautiful sanctuary was a cumulous cloud. At least it looked just like a cloud. It was actually about three hundred helium filled balloons stuffed inside about six white bed sheets that had been sewed together in a shape that would approximate a fluffy white Palestinian cloud in a late Palestinian Spring sky. Everyone was amazed and spoke of how wonderful it would be to see that cloud as Pastor Waller read and preached about Jesus ascending into the clouds. The Liebermanns just leaned back and smiled in satisfaction, knowing they had contributed mightily to the experience of worship that day.

Well, the worship service proceeded better than the Liebermanns or even Pastor Waller would have imagined. But then, it was a morning in mid May, and mid May can get quite warm and it began to get warm inside the sanctuary. Ernest Holzwald was serving as an usher that day and as he ran his finger around the inside of his collar and felt the accumulating sweat, he eyed the cloud in the ceiling. Joe Liebermann had told him not to turn on the ceiling fans up there because of the "cloud" and then said that it probably wouldn't get too warm, it not being the height of summer yet. But it was getting hot and Ernest was doing some considering. The fans were mounted on long rods that extended about ten feet below where the cloud was resting against the ceiling. The cloud was well out of the proximity of the fan blades were they turning, so what harm could come from stirring up a little breeze? So he slipped quietly to the back of the sanctuary and flipped on all three fans.

At first, nothing happened and everyone felt a welcoming breeze. But just as Pastor Waller was getting to the part about the disciples looking intently into the sky, and everyone in the congregation looked up, the breeze which had stirred the floor of the church cycled back through the air in the sanctuary to the upper reaches at the ceiling and the "cloud" in the ceiling tilted on its side and began drifting downward -- straight toward the fans. Joe looked up and the smile of satisfaction quickly left his face as he saw where the cloud was headed. He shot a look back at Ernest who saw Joe's piercing eyes. Ernest looked up just in time to see the leading edge of the cloud connect with the spinning blades of the middle fan. As he rushed back toward the switch, he heard the "thump-thump-thump" of the blades striking sheet covered, inflated rubber. Then suddenly, there was a sound like two Civil War regiments opening fire at one another as the blades ripped through the sheets and punctured the balloons and a gasp arose from the gathered faithful. Immediately, rubber and fabric wound around the shaft of the fan and the fan started moaning and groaning and healing around on its long mount. Pastor Waller, who had already lost the congregation, yelled out, "Somebody turn off the fans." Ernest reached for the switch, but he looked up at the ceiling as he did so and he turned the dial the wrong way. Instead of turning the fans off, he sped them up -- which caused more air movement on the part of the other two fans, greater groaning on the part of the befouled fan, and a rapid descent of the other end of the cloud directly into another fan. There were pieces of sheet and multicolored rubber falling all over the sanctuary and people were of the decisive opinion that it wasn't like this on the Mt. of Olives . After the worship service, it took them hours to disentangle the sheets, days to replace the two burned out fans, months to pay for the damage, and about a year for Joe Liebermann to forgive Ernest Holzwald.

That evening in his study, Pastor Waller reflected on the day and wrote in his journal, "Regarding the ascension of Jesus, I'm convinced that the cloud is NOT the point." Had he come to that conclusion earlier, he might have saved at least one worship service, and maybe a relationship.

But he's right, you know. The clouds are not the point of this passage. In fact, after Jesus rises into heaven, the book of Acts tells us that two angels appeared and told the disciples in effect, "What are you standing around for? Whatcha gazing into the sky for? Jesus has gone back to the Father, like he said he would. He's done his job. Now it's time for you to do yours. So quit staring into the clouds. Get moving!" In other words, the point is that Jesus has been here, has loved us, even died for us. But don't stand around staring into the clouds thinking about how wonderful all that is. Now it's time to act on things. Now it's time to do something. Now it's time to quit gazing and start obeying. Just to emphasize this point, I did some math. In the book of the Acts, there are 2 verses about gazing at the clouds. There are 1,005 more which record what the believers DID. After all, it is called the book of the ACTS. You'll miss the point if all you do is gaze at the clouds.

You might say, "But we don't gaze at clouds." Maybe not, but I'm not speaking literally here anymore than Jesus always spoke literally. The fact of the matter is, every time we come to worship, we do a bit of cloud gazing. And a little cloud gazing is fine. Have you ever stood on the beech and looked out over the ocean on a Summer evening and watched the strobe light flash of lightening rampage around the inside of the cauliflower billows of an anvil head thunderstorm far out near the horizon? It's awesome. After seeing something like that, I have a sense of joy I can take with me for a long time after vacation is over. But I cannot simply spend the rest of my life standing in the sand gazing out across the water.

Coming to worship can inspire awe. But the point of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection was never simply to make it so people would gather for an hour a week and gaze at him. If all we do is come to worship, gaze in admiration at Jesus, sing his praises and then go out to conduct business as usual, all we've done is gaze at the clouds. The fact of the matter is, a tiny fraction of our lives is to be spent in gazing at clouds, the rest of the story is supposed to be our becoming ambassadors for Jesus, in Jerusalem , in all Judea and Samaria , and to the ends of the earth. In other words, we're to quit mere gazing and BE Christians in Mechanicsville , Hanover County and Virginia, and globally. Jesus didn't die so that we'd gather in groups for an hour a week. He died to change your life, open eternity to you, and redeem the entire created order through us. That's a whole lot more than gazing at clouds.

Right after Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared in the garden to Mary. John's gospel tells us that Mary fell down to worship him, but Jesus said, "Don't hold on to me. Go tell Peter and the others what you've seen." In other words, Jesus doesn't want our intellectual assent or even our emotional admiration of him if it doesn't lead to decisive action and changed lives.

A boy was sitting in the family room playing with a model F-14 and watching a television program about aircraft carriers. His father, a Navy veteran, came into the room and said, "Son, it's time for you to go and pick up the sticks in the back yard so I can mow the grass."

The boy said, "Dad, I was just pretending that I was you, flying off the deck of a carrier."

The father grinned in pride and as he pulled the lawn mower out of the shed, he reflected on how his son sure did admire him. It made him feel good. But then he saw the sticks still lying about the yard. He went back in to find his son making another landing on board his imaginary carrier. "Son, it's time to pick up those sticks."

The boy said, "Dad, it must have taken some real courage for you to fly such an awesome airplane onto a tiny deck, tossing on top of the ocean." Again, the pride started rising in the Father's chest. "Well, son, you do what duty calls you to do," and he turned to go back out when his eyes fell on the sticks still poking up from the uncut grass.

The father turned back into the room, "Son?"

"Yes, dad?"

"You admire my doing my duty?"

"Yes, dad! You were awesome!"

"Well, son thanks, but there's still sticks out here and I want you to quit admiring my doing my duty and you start doing yours!"

Well, the boy was having fun with his toys and his admiration was genuine. He wasn't intentionally bamboozling the dad. But when he finally got outside and cooperated with his father, he discovered that that activity was even more satisfying than playing with toy jets. Now he wasn't just admiring his father, he was enjoying working with him, and the smell of the grass and the glow of the sun mingled with the satisfaction of a job well done. Now he not only admired his father, but his father admired him -- and that was the best reward of all.

Jesus appreciates our admiration of him. We need to nurture a healthy admiration of Jesus. He's given us an unmerited and free gift in his love for us. What a fantastic, gracious gift his love for us is! But the real joy comes to us when we go out from the occasions of organized admiration and know we're living, cooperating, doing things in the world that he's asked us to do. Ah, we need to keep on gathering in places like this to admire Jesus and be reminded of his gift to us. But after an hour of gazing into the clouds, we have 167 more hours in the week when we're called to go out into our city, county, state, and world. So, the hour is up, now. Quit gazing at him, and start walking with him.