Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Luke 24:44-53 at Batesville Presbyterian Church on May 20, 2007
Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder what you are. Up above the trees so high. Like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder what you are. For as long as we remember, humans have been gazing at the stars. The oldest astronomical observation ever recorded occurred around 4000 BC in Egypt and Central America. Around 2000 B.C., Pythagoras and Thales of Miletus speculated that the Earth is a sphere. In the 1960s, that theory was proven when we saw on TV the now familiar picture of the blue round orb known as planet earth. The pictures came courtesy of NASA.
Our exploration of space did not end with the walk on the moon. On April 25, 1990, NASA and the European Space Agency launched the Hubble Space Telescope. The information collected daily by Hubble is stored on optical computer disks. A single day's worth of observations would fill an encyclopedia. Hubble's Ultra Deep Field is the most sensitive astronomical optical image ever taken. The Hubble Telescope is our best effort at gazing ever more closely into the sky beyond our sky -- into the black void of space beyond our atmosphere. The results are breathtaking. We put our hand over our mouth and stare in wonder at the mysteries of outer space.
So may have the disciples of Jesus put their hands to their hands and dropped their jaws in amazement when they witnessed his ascension into heaven. Luke records: "They were gazing up toward heaven" (Acts 1:10). And if Christ hadn't yet blown the disciples minds with his teaching and miracles, he certainly expanded their minds -- and our minds as well -- when he ascended into heaven. The story of the ascension challenges our limited views of Christ. It lifts our eyes beyond the tunnel vision of our one-storied, flattened, ranch-style universe to see the love of God in cosmic terms. It stretches our minds, expands our souls, and lifts our vision. It enables us to see farther than we have ever seen before and gives us a whole new understanding of Christ. I do not understand the ascension any more than I understand the Hubble Space Telescope. But I know that when we catch a vision of the ascended Christ we can see farther and more clearly than we have ever seen before, and it gives us a whole new way of understanding our own existence.
Christ, our hope, is raised to heaven. Yet we do not seek his face in the skies. For he comes to us on every shore of humanity. He comes to us and abides with us, inside our bodies, in our secret heart. The same Christ, who created the billions of galaxies revealed by the Hubble Telescope, lives inside us. Abides within us. Leads us and guides us. Through the risen Christ who dwells within us, we ourselves act as an intersection between heaven and earth. By virtue of our baptism, we are so full of God we cannot even imagine the power contained inside us. The power of God inside us is equal to or greater than the sum total of all the energy of every star in every galaxy in all of creation.
Today we celebrate the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. The same Christ who created the galaxies dwells inside us. Our task as Christians is to become ever more conscious of the ascended Christ who dwells within us. God has given us this joyful task. Let us proceed with our spiritual journey toward an ever greater recognition of the ascended Christ who dwells within us. Now, after his ascension into heaven, Christ is the force above us and the energy within us.
Let us set our sails to the wind of the Spirit and soar with Christ to new levels of human consciousness. The cosmic Christ has ascended into heaven. His transformation from human to divine points the way home for all of us. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. Death is a transition that we all will face. Yet our ultimate destiny is not in the ground. For our spirits will soar like the ascended Christ. Up into heaven with the Holy Trinity and all the saints in light.
We have this power within us even now. We have the energy of Christ within us. Hubble shows us outer space and we recognize the beauty and majestic of God's creation way out there. Centering prayer shows us inner space and we recognize the energy and power of God's light dwelling within us even now. We are so full of God that we would be frightened if we knew the power we contain. God is out there and God is in here. The theological terms and transcendence and immanence. The physical reality is that the Holy Trinity dwells as far out in space as Hubble has ever seen and then some. The Holy Trinity also dwells as close in our bodies as the smallest quark or corpuscle inside our secret hearts. The cosmic Christ is the force above and the energy within. Let's recognize and claim our destiny which is to united with God in heaven. We will ascend with Christ into heaven one day. Let's get ourselves ready for that spiritual rocket ride.
