Find Meaning and Purpose in Christ.

The end of May is graduation season. We have a number of high school graduates this spring and a couple of them have earned their Associate of Arts degrees through dual enrollment. We intended to honor them all a couple of weeks ago, but we are still waiting to find a time when we can do that properly. Waiting has become a big part of our lives. Disruption has become a big part of our lives. Uncertainty has become a big part of our lives.

Thus we – and the whole world – are in a transitional time, like the time between high school graduation and starting whatever comes next.

Do you remember, “two weeks to bend the curve?” Now, it has been almost ten weeks. Our cautious and purposeful steps toward reopening will play out over the next few weeks and for much longer for some depending on their personal risk factors and/or discomfort with our plans. But what about if you are a high school or trade school or college graduate looking for a job?

The statistics make it look daunting, but the truth is that the ones who have a clear vision of what they want to do will be much more likely to find it.

But for a lot of young people it’s hard to know what is even out there. We called Duke Energy because we’ve got some trees we think might cause trouble with power lines that run across our back yard.  They are sending a Vegetation Assessment Specialist to evaluate it. I cannot imagine that person grew up dreaming of becoming a Vegetation Assessment Specialist. But, he or she got on with a good company, maybe they started out actually trimming the trees and knows what a problem they cause in a big thunderstorm or hurricane. He or she turned out to be the sort of person that works well without a lot of direct supervision and is able to work well with customers – which is no simple thing. Have you ever tried to work with people, let alone the general public?

So we’ve established two points:

1.     People who have a clear vision of their future tend to enact it, to see it come to pass.

2.     People who have a lot of grit to get going, even if they aren’t entirely sure of where that road might ultimately lead them, also tend to find their way.

We can sum those up in two words: meaning and purpose. Meaning imparts a great deal of motivation and pulls you through the necessary education and training and difficulties you encounter along the way. Purpose make you tenacious. You just don’t stop, you don’t let go. People without either of those are adrift in a way and their lives improve when they find them. We find both in Jesus, of course, and we see them enacted for us in a striking way at the Ascension.

This had to be difficult for the Apostles. They had just gotten Jesus back! He was dead, now he’s alive, why not just go back to the Temple and confront Caiaphas and the others? Why not just go back and confront Pilate? “Hey, Pilate? You asked me what is truth. Well, take a look.” And now, he’s leaving and passing his work on to them? This hardly seems fair.

But if he stayed, they would not have grown. If you don’t graduate – move on from the learning and practicing stage to the actual doing of a thing – you can’t fulfill whatever you’re supposed to do.  Sure, we never stop learning. That’s life. But to really learn, you’ve got to get on with it. It’s one thing to have your dad or a manual or YouTube show you how to change a tire.  It’s another to do it and pull out on the road and have it not wobble or fall off. You don’t really learn a musical instrument until you play in front of other people. You don’t really learn a sport until you compete. You don’t really assess vegetation on power lines until you are actually in someone’s back yard having that discussion.

Jesus gives the Apostles final gifts of meaning and purpose that are life-changing, life-shaping and life giving. The purpose comes in his charge to them to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth, powered by the Holy Spirit. That’s their job and the guidance to do it. If the Holy Spirit is driving you, you will have the grit to do whatever He’s driving you to do. You’ll learn what you need to learn and you’ll overcome the obstacles that inevitably arise, and your very life becomes that witness.

The meaning comes when he ascends out of their sight, not behind a cloud or into outer space. We do better to think of it as another dimension, another place and way of being. Now that’s a vision. They remember what he said the night before he died, “And you know the way to where I am going,” then, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” And there he went!

And they remember that he prayed for them the night before he died, that Jesus had, “…authority over all people to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

That’s quite a moment. No wonder they’re gazing up after him. Not for long. “Suddenly” two angels are there, telling them to quit staring. Now he’s gone and they must get on with it.

Then what do they do? What any sane and faithful person should do. They constantly devote themselves to prayer. Prayer is the way we fulfill Jesus’ prayer. When we pray, we approach God, we pull in tight – no social distancing – where we find ultimate meaning and purpose, where Jesus is and how Jesus is.

And we each have a job – to use the gifts and talents you have to share him with others, to raise them up as well.  It’s important to study and learn the scriptures, to learn as much as we can about Jesus and the history of God’s revelation in scripture and the ways that has been lived by the Church for better or worse across history. We never stop learning.

But it’s not enough to study it. We’ve got to enact it as well, even though it’s hard, even though we stumble, no matter our circumstances.  We’ve got to get on with it! We’re starting to emerge, with safe and cautious steps, and our immediate desire is to get back to our joyful life together in Christ, including our worship and fellowship and outreach efforts. We will. But always keep your eye on that ultimate meaning, of being one with God in Jesus, and that ultimate purpose of being powered by the Holy Spirit to build his kingdom in whatever context of life and work he calls you. It is in the doing that the being takes shape, forming us for eternity with Him.

AMEN