The Adventurous Lectionary – Seventh Sunday of Easter- Ascension Sunday – May 17.2026
Bruce G. Epperly
Acts 1:6-14; Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35; I Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11; John 17:1-11
These days, many of us would like to experience an Ascension. The world is too much with us. We might want to escape the evils of our time, but we are embedded in life’s challenges each morning as we check the internet and social media. We are inundated with news of mass shootings, irrational and dangerous political policies, incivility, war in Ukraine, the erosion of human rights and the normalization of racism, a war of opportunity and not necessity, and a foreign policy without rhyme or reason, led by people without strategy. We see our fellow Christians aligning themselves with a would be demigod and democracy destroyer.
Yes, we would like to escape or at least go away for a while. Yet, we are in the world, on earth, escape is impossible, and if our faith is to be relevant as preachers to our times, we need to join scripture and cable news and newsfeeds. An unhistorical gospel is irrelevant and counter to the moral and spiritual arcs of history. Indeed, virtually all of scripture was penned in times of crisis, violence, and uncertainty like our own.
AN EARTH-AFFIRMING FAITH. The Ascension reading asks: Why are you looking at heaven, your work is on earth? Can we be both heavenly minded and earthly good? Can we have an eternal perspective, embracing the afterlife and also seek this worldly beauty and justice to our earthly lives?
In the Acts reading, Jesus is ascending to heaven. However we understand the three-story universe curiously described in this passage, one thing is clear: Jesus is no longer on the earth. We can no longer encounter him physically or directly. We must experience him spiritually or mediated through earthly physical and relational experiences. Still, Jesus’ absence is no cause to abandon our planet or our ethical obligations. We have work to do. The exit of Jesus provides an opportunity to take our place as Jesus’ companions in creative transformation, in bringing beauty and healing to this good Earth. God is in us and with us and is luring us forward toward new adventures in faithful discipleship.
POWER FROM GOD’S SPIRIT. You will receive power from the Holy Spirit! What might that mean to us on Earth? What does that promise mean to struggling persons and congregations, dealing with the realities rapid religious change and the appropriate antipathy toward much of Christianity by nones and seekers and national leaders hell-bent on destroying democracy and the underpinnings of world order and environmental well-being? As we consider Jesus’ Ascension, we are reminded that our work is here on earth. We don’t need to wait for heaven to experience God’s presence and live out God’s good news. Heaven is for real – and it is right here as well as on the far shore of mortality.
What’s most important in the Acts passage is the promise that in the midst of the uncertainties of our time we will receive power from God’s Spirit and that our task is become both heavenly minded and earthly good. “Why are you staring at the sky? Why are you abandoning my work on Earth?” the angelic messenger asks. “Your work is here on earth. Your calling is to spread good news and embody Jesus’ ministry of hospitality and healing in your time. God will give you the power you need to transform the world.” This same counsel is given to us: we have work to do right here responding to global climate change, praying and acting for the liberation of the oppressed, working for equality for all persons, closing the gap between the wealthy and the poor, ensuring health care for the vulnerable, challenging unprecedented and dangerous national leadership, and bringing beauty to our daily relationships. We have work to do as God’s companions in healing the world.
We often feel too small to take on the challenges of the day. I am sure Jesus’ first followers had second thoughts about their ability to carry on Jesus’ mission. They, and we, might want our problems solved in a heavenly realm. We might want to escape white racism and politicians that fan it, global climate change, and the diabolical policies of politicians here and abroad. But we are not helpless and alone. God’s Spirit is with us, and God has given us power to be agents of healing and creative transformation in our time.
PRAYER MAKES A DIFFERENCE. The Acts reading focuses on God’s initiative in our ministries, but it also affirms that we can prepare for bursts of creative power through devoting ourselves to prayer, individually and as communities. Prayer is not an escape from the world, or passive acceptance of God’s will, letting God do the work while we sit on the sidelines. Prayer is an active process of aligning our lives with God’s vision, discerning our calling, joining with neighbors in common cause, and getting to work. Prayer is essential to activism and inspires us to take creative risks and leave our comfort zones to fulfill our vocation in our time and place. We must pray and protest and contemplate and challenge, trusting that God’s truth goes marching on!
We are not alone. We are ultimately safe and can face the crises of our time. The One who ascends to the heavens is also as near as our next breath and upcoming encounter.
THE MORAL EQUIVALENT OF WAR. The reading from I Peter invites us to a robust progressive spirituality to confront Christian nationalism, racism, irrational leaders, and abandonment of the earth. William James once spoke of the “moral equivalent of war,” and the author of I Peter would agree. There are threats abounding in our world and they can overwhelm us, if we lose our focus and succumb to apathy, fear, and temptation. Faithful mindfulness keeps us alert to God’s presence, the dangers at hand, and the power to confront them available to us. Despite our anxieties, from our sheltered comfort zones, we often act as if life is safe and secure even as we read newsfeeds about mass shootings and the rise of neofascism, often led by persons claiming to be Christians.
Looking at our world, we recognize that we have a fight on our hands. While we may not choose sides or define others as enemies, the future of our planet is at stake, the economic well-being of millions is on the line; we face those who hate, exploit, and destroy in the name God and personal prosperity; hate crimes have gone up targeting the LGBTQ+ community and persons of color. We must challenge those who limit God’s love to a select few or view God’s sovereignty as license to put children’s lives at risk, sacrificing them to the idol of gun ownership, line their pockets with gold while others are out of work, and destroy the environment for short term financial gain. Moreover, as we challenge the behaviors of others, we must face our own complicity and fearfulness. We may have to sacrifice so that others will live, and in our sacrifice, we share in Christ’s own willingness to share our burdens so that we might find wholeness and salvation.
ONE IN THE SPIRIT? With the cross on the horizon, Jesus prays for his disciples and for us. The passage from John’s gospel affirms that God is glorified in Christ and Christ is glorified in us. Jesus affirms that eternal life is here and now, as well as in God’s heavenly realm. In fact, we are in God’s heavenly realm whenever we attend to God’s vision and know God as our deepest reality. Jesus and the Father (Parent) are one in spirit; God is the animating force of Jesus’ life, and Jesus can become the animating force of our own lives. Aligned with Jesus, his power, inspiration, and guidance flow through us, not as robots but as creative partners in bringing beauty, healing, and justice to the world.
Yet, with our fellow Christians as the most challenging perpetrators of division and demagoguery, how can we find unity? The task is almost impossible, especially as they also mistrust our viewpoint. But, perhaps it begins with seeing the holiness of those whose positions and theologies we must mistrust. To see the Christ within those whose viewpoints we must challenge and denounce.
As Jesus’ followers, we are given the task of claiming and following the power and guidance of the Spirit. As the Psalmist proclaims, God’s sanctuary is with us and gives strength to God’s people. We are one in the Spirit and one in truth, and this must guide our politics as well as we challenge gaslighting, scapegoating, science denial, racism, homophobia, misogyny, and nation-first ideologies. We can become agents of divine reconciliation, bringing earth to heaven and heaven to earth whether we pray or protest, as we see to bring God’s realm to earth as it is in heaven.
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Bruce Epperly is Theologian in Residence at Westmoreland Congregational United Church of Christ, Bethesda, MD and a professor in theology and spirituality at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington DC. He is the author of over ninety books, including his Christological trilogy Jesus: Mystic, Healer, and Prophet; Whitehead and Jesus: An Adventure in Spiritual Transformation; and Messy Incarnation: Meditations in Christology in Process and also Creation Sings: Forty Days of Spiritual Wisdom from the Non-Human World; and Homegrown Mystics: Restoring Our Nation with the Healing Wisdom of America’s Visionaries. He is married to Rev. Kate Epperly, D.Min. and lives in Potomac, Maryland.
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