Sunday, June 1, 2014
Ascension Sunday
Ordination of Jason Stuart Smith
Sermon Audio
Greg Smith
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“Alzando sus manos, [Jesús] los bendijo.”
“Lifting up his hands,” the Gospel of Luke tells us, “Jesus blessed them.” Just as Jesus blessed the first disciples on that day before his departure to the heavens, even so he blesses us in this place on this day. For like them, we too are living witnesses of Jesus Messiah. In a mystical yet vital way, we who gather here today are joined with those first disciples who witnessed firsthand their Lord’s life, death, new life and, now, his ascension to the heavens. Their blessings are our blessings, their joy is our joy and their story is our story. We come today to continue the living of that story, and share in their favor from God.
Yet neither the narrative that unfolded on the hills of Judea two millennia ago, nor the narrative we are living today in this place, can be considered a one-act play. For our narratives are merely smaller pieces of a larger drama God has been enacting across time and space since the foundation of creation, a drama writ large within the pages of Holy Scripture, what my former doctoral advisor Howard Snyder calls God’s “cosmic drama.” And this cosmic drama – the very essence of the Mosaic Law, the Prophets and the Psalms to which Jesus refers in our text this morning – contains one central message: that the God of creation seeks the healing of creation, a healing which God’s own people are not only to receive themselves, but a healing which we, channels of God’s grace and mercy, are to offer to the world.
Film star Bette Davis is quoted as having once said,
Acting should be bigger than life. Scripts should be bigger than life. It should all be bigger than life.
To that first group of amazed yet confused disciples, Jesus opened their minds to see that God’s cosmic drama of healing and hope had been fulfilled in him. He had taken God’s “bigger than life” script contained in the Jewish Scriptures and, in a manner only the Son could do, daily rehearsed it, immersed himself in it, embraced it, suffered for it and, in that suffering, found new life in it.
Yet his was not simply another act in the drama, for Jesus himself is the Truth of the drama, the purpose and meaning of the drama, the very incarnation of the drama which inspires, motivates and challenges his people. For in Jesus:
- Healing and hope now have flesh and bones.
- Justice and forgiveness now have flesh and bones.
- Welcoming love now has flesh and bones.
- God and God’s eternal, mysterious, cosmic drama now have flesh and bones.
And God’s people, who are flesh and bones, have been given the Script by which we are to live into God’s cosmic drama in our daily lives.
Jason, hoy es un día de mucha importancia para tu vida y para todos los que te amamos.
Jason, today is a significant day in your life, and in the life of all those who love you. This is your ordination, a day for being “set apart.” This is a day that your church, Calvary Baptist Church, on the occasion of its 152nd year – and not only this church but the whole of Christ’s church stretching back 2000 years – recognizes your gifts, your capacities, and your service for the gospel of Christ.
This is not a day when you will receive some kind of “incredible, mystical power.” By appending the title “reverend” to your name, you are not taking on a special degree of “holiness,” and you will not suddenly take on a saintly appearance. No halo will form over your head. Your feet will still be made of clay.
Rather, your ordination is a day of blessing, God’s blessing coming to you through this church, a blessing of invitation to you. The invitation is to embrace God’s cosmic drama of healing and hope, justice and forgiveness, love and welcoming, taking the talents and abilities with which God has uniquely gifted you, and living fully and completely into the drama, embodying it as Jesus embodied it, in the power of God’s ever-present Spirit, with all humility and grace. For this purpose your church is ordaining you, setting you apart for service.
El salmista dijo una vez que los hijos son ricas bendiciones del Señor.
The Psalmist once said that children are rich blessings from the Lord [Psalm 127:3]. This is true. And sometimes, children are mysteries as well, at least to their parents.
Like many children, you were never all that keen on taking music lessons, or in your case, piano lessons. I remember when, living in Costa Rica with our missionary colleagues, Aunt Melinda Kyzar came to us and sadly said that, while you had a lot of talent, you couldn’t continue as one of her piano students because you just didn’t like to practice. Imagine that, a kid who didn’t like practicing the piano! I guess from that day forward I really never gave your future with the piano much of a chance. But you surprised me and proved me wrong. Unlike me, who spent so much of my early years simply listening to my favorite music, you spent much of your time on your electronic keyboard playing the music, headset plugged in so only you could hear it. You proved not only a love for music, but maybe more importantly a persistence to face a challenge, something that has served you, and will continue to serve you and the church, throughout your life.
But I wasn’t surprised at the times you willingly, even eagerly, went with your mother on volunteer mission trips, including dental and medical mission trips to the south of Costa Rica. Mom was always looking for a way to involve you and your brother, and you guys did like to help. Like all missionary kids, you translated for the volunteer doctors and dentists. And, as you worked alongside the volunteers, you met many people in need, in ways you had never seen before: some who in their 20s, 30s, 40s or older with rotting teeth had never before received dental care; some who needed urgent medical attention; some who couldn’t believe how clearly a donated pair of eyeglasses could help them see. Mom would often come home telling me how much fun you had with the volunteers, how you learned from them, and how they accepted you.
So it was only natural that, later, as a young adult, and after some starts and stops in your graduate studies, you chose a program that would focus your attention on community, justice and service. For you, that was a seminary program, and your on-the-job training has been this church. You have continued to learn, and continued to put into practice here, in the company of this church body, and under the leadership of Pastor Amy and all the church’s leadership, God’s welcoming, inclusive love for the stranger, for the poor, and for all. And I believe and know that you, in the company of this church body, have learned from the stranger, from the poor, and from all.
Por estas razones, y muchas otras aún, esta iglesia te ordena, siguiendo el llamado de Dios.
For these reasons, and many others besides, this church, through God’s call, is ordaining you. Yet, by participating in this service of ordination, all of us gathered here, servants of God through this church or through another, find ourselves also asking God to open our ears so we too can hear anew the call to live into God’s cosmic drama, embodied in our Lord and empowered by the Spirit. Thus we pledge anew to commit to the cause of justice and mercy that emanates from the heart of God and to which you are giving your life. We pledge to extend God’s offer of forgiveness to everyone in need of knowing a love that never condemns. We pledge to walk alongside you, and each other, to live into, even if need be to suffer for, a promise and a hope that awaits us each day of our lives and, when the final curtain falls on our part of the drama, at the end of life itself.
Just remember: The drama is God’s. Its embodiment and meaning are found in Jesus. And its energy and passion are the Spirit’s to share. It is that same energy and passion which will empower you, Jason, by means of the gifts and abilities which are uniquely yours, to be Christ’s witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the uttermost parts of the earth, even your next journey with Myra to Arkansas.
May God richly bless you, Jason and Myra. We are proud of you. And we love you very much. Amen.