Bearing Witness
By Michael Joseph
June 5, 2011
Acts 1: 6-14
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We were pleased to welcome our guest preacher, Michael E Joseph,
who has worked for several years as a UCC missionary in Colombia
and plans to return. The video he showed during his sermon
is on YouTube. You can view & listen to it while reading this sermon
by clicking
[ here ]
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's an honor and blessing for me to be here at Christ Church, in Summit.
My name is Michael Joseph. Like Christ Church, I'm pretty
interdenominational, a little bit Baptist and a little bit UCC. I was ordained
by and am still a member of, Metro Baptist Church in NYC and an associate
member of First Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, DC.
I've served the past four years as a missionary with Global
Ministries (the mission agency of the United Church of Christ and the Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ). I've
served and plan to return in November for another four-year term to serve in
Colombia with the Peace Commission of the Colombian Council of Churches, known
in Colombia as CEDECOL.
I want to thank you for your support of the mission work of
Global Ministries; support that you have given through your contributions to
Our Church's Wider Mission (OCWM).
Colombia has been in an internal armed conflict –
essentially a civil war - for the past 50 years. Through the church-based Peace
Commission we work to equip our churches and pastors in Colombia to be able to
minister to their communities in the midst of the war.
Today's scripture reading from Acts (1:6-14) refers to
Jesus' Ascension. The Feast of the Ascension is celebrated forty days after
Easter, which means it was this past Thursday. I happened to be at a theology
conference in Baltimore this past week where we celebrated it, or it might have
slipped by me, unnoticed, as I imagine it did for many of you. I think the
image of Jesus rising up into the clouds is one that our modern scientifically
focused minds prefer to ignore. It seems like an image more suited for Harold
Camping and his followers than those of us who weren't too concerned with being
left-behind. But I believe there is a depth to what Luke is telling us in this
passage that merits pausing for a second look.
The passage starts with the disciples asking Jesus yet again
if he is finally going to restore the Kingdom to Israel. They're still
struggling to understand what Jesus is really all about and hoping he'll deal
with this Roman problem soon. And though
he doesn't promise them political or military triumph over Rome any time soon,
notice that he doesn't point them to pie-in-sky either. He promises them the
power of the Holy Spirit and then says they're to be his witnesses – witnesses
– in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And
there we get both Colombia and Summit, NJ… pretty sure they're included in all
the ends of the earth. Notice how Jesus answers their desire for salvation by
pointing them right back out into their world from Jerusalem to the ends of the
earth.
And then next thing they know, up he goes, according to the
text… and you can just imagine them there staring up into the sky, scratching
their heads. Up into the sky… it matters not whether you take it literally or
figuratively, because the message once again comes in the next lines. Two men
in white robes show up and ask why they're looking up and tell them that Jesus
will return in the same way he went. I'm pretty sure they were pointing at the road
back to Jerusalem. The whole point of this text about the Ascension is that
it's not about looking up. It's about looking around. You'll have the power of
the Holy Spirit… now quit looking for Jesus up in the sky, look around and get
to it.
[Show Video] [found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kyj4VBmd-7c]
In Colombia we have lots of churches like the Christ the
King Church featured in this video, that are looking around, witnessing a lot of
suffering, and getting to it. Through the Peace Commission we publish an annual
report called A Prophetic Call where the church in Colombia is documenting
both their suffering – through hundreds of cases of human rights violations –
as well as their hope… sharing the positive things they're doing to respond to
the war.
-Leave a Prophetic Call – Pray it
-Sign-up to receive more info from Global Ministries
-See me afterwards about getting on an email list to maybe
write one or two emails a year when someone's life is on the line.
- Lastly… wall hanging… Maria la Baja
By raising Jesus from the dead, God was saying, Death does
not get the final word, by sending the Holy Spirit, Jesus was saying that death
does not get the final word. Christ the King
Church is saying Death does not get the final word. Women in Maria la Baja are
saying with this hanging that Death does not get the final word.
Whether you connect with directly with our work in Colombia,
connect more closely with Global Ministries… or whether you are called to keep
your focus on issues here in Summit, NJ… Remember that Jesus has given us the
power of the Holy Spirit… it's up to us to look around and put it to use.
Let us pray: Spirit of love, Spirit of life; Holy Spirit,
give us your power as we go forth as your witness in Summit, in Colombia and
even unto the ends of the earth. Amen.
© 2011
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All rights reserved.
