May 17, 2026: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
Happy Easter!
I shared a meme on my Facebook page this past Thursday. It was the Feast of the Ascension, and it depicted the scene we heard about this morning from the Acts of the Apostles. Jesus is heading up to heaven like he has those rocket packs we were all promised as a kid – and below are the apostles looking up at him. Anyway, the meme said – keep scrolling, Jesus needs to ascend. Which, if you do, Jesus just keeps moving up, up, and away on your screen. You gotta love the ingenuity of whoever thought that one up. I personally would have added sound – you know, Rocket Man by Elton John or something like that.
At any rate, I love the part of the Ascension narrative when the two messengers – the ones that appear next to the disciples –basically say to them, as they crane their necks to stare at the departing Jesus, “Wadda ya lookin’ at? There is nothing to see here…move along now, move along. Jesus has left the building.”
Now, in defense of those earliest followers of Jesus, we all want to do that when someone we love is taken from our lives, right? Metaphorically speaking, we too stand motionless staring into an empty void, turning our eyes toward what was, and dwell there for some time. And that, my friends, is understandable. It is how we are able to process our grief. Yet we know that, if after some time has passed, we are not able to turn our attention toward the future, if we stay rooted in what was, we will never fully heal. Now to be clear, healing isn’t about forgetting. It is about discovering a new way to live into our changed reality, with our loved ones being with us in a different way than we had hoped. That is what the disciples had to do too – that is what those messengers were telling them.
See, what these earliest disciples were about to find out is that ride up into the heavens wasn’t Jesus’ farewell swan song. He wasn’t singing “so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodnight!” Not at all. The ascension is the beginning of a new chapter of God’s relationship with humanity, and the disciples’ relationship with Jesus. They may not have fully grasped what lay ahead for them, but it is when those disciples really began to understand that nothing would be the same again. Yes, their lives changed the moment they met him, and again when he was crucified, and still again as they came to know of his resurrection. But, it wasn’t until Jesus departed that it began to sink in that following him would not look like it did before.
Following Jesus in the before time meant that when he went to a town, they went with him. Likewise, when he sent them somewhere, they would go and return back to him. They had a routine, a way of being, with him at the center guiding their steps, and filling their heart with knowledge of God’s love.
Now Jesus, after spending 40 days post resurrection hanging out with them, had ascended (or as one social media meme put it – was now working from home). Things were going to be different for them again, and they would in time discover how to live into a whole new reality for themselves – a “new normal” so to speak. And that is a good thing – for those disciples then, and for us today, because it seems like we get a “new normal” practically every day, and it can be hard to know how to manage.
I mean Lordy what a mess the world is in right now. Things shift and get weirder by the day. It is hard to even call what is happening reality at all. Sometimes it feels like there are a lot of people who live in some other type of reality on Earth 2, while the rest of us are here on Earth 1. It would be comical, if it didn’t have such horrific consequences.
Just in the past few weeks the Supreme Court destroyed the final vestiges of the Voting Rights Act, leading to a frantic race to the bottom of the pit of depravity by racists in the South to eliminate minority-majority districts in their state, erasing the voice of millions of people of color. But wait – there’s more…
If we thought our President was done with his plan to build massive concentration camps, including one here in our state, we’d be wrong. The push is still on to turn our nation back to the days of the Japanese internment camps and the trail of tears. All of this, and a lot more has been happening, while this same government has stripped protections for our National Parks, the one thing keeping God’s creation from being totally destroyed in this country.
And there is something insidious happening this very day too. Today, on the National Mall, this same government is holding what they are calling “Rededicate 250.” It is billed as a national day of prayer – returning the country to God. But here’s the thing – apparently their nationalistic religious fever dream is for only Christians that hold fundamentalist beliefs and right wing political views. For that matter, with the lone exception of one Orthodox Jewish Rabbi, Jews aren’t invited either. Neither are Muslims, Hindus, or any other faith. The only prayer they value is by those who want to create a so-called “Christian” Nation of white people – who want to link belief in a white, blond haired, blue-eyed Jesus with power over an entire country.
This is Christian Nationalism.
It is a heresy and it is also unconstitutional.
Addressing the latter, the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution reads “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” Tying US political power to the church, or for that matter, any religion or denomination within one, goes against everything our country stands for, and what veterans throughout its long history have died fighting to protect.
But for Christians, this nationalizing of our faith is heretical. It aligns Jesus with earthly empire, and uses our sacred texts to justify the building up of power and wealth, while oppressing the vulnerable. Some of these Nationalists even use the ascension of Jesus as the moment he established his kingdom, and therefore set this earthly power grab into motion. Worse, many in what is called MAGA actually believe that the President is some sort of Christ figure – here to set everything right. A group of faith leaders in Florida even gathered this past week at the dedication of – I kid you not – a 22’ golden statue of the President. Did they EVER read the story in Exodus of the golden calf? It did NOT go well for those folks. And, apparently the President thinks this idolatry, this allusion to his being Christ himself, is spot on, given that blasphemous meme he put out depicting himself as Jesus.
Let me be perfectly clear Mr. President – you may be a child of God, but you are certainly no Jesus, no savior of the world, no God almighty. Not even close.
And to Christian Nationalists – hear this: Jesus was not born to us, did not dwell among us, was not crucified by empirical Rome, did not rise from the grave, and ascend into heaven all so he could build up the earthly power of his followers! On the night before he died for us he made that very, very, clear. He knelt and washed the feet of the one who would deny him, and the one who would betray him, and then told his followers that they were to love as he loved, in humble service. That’s it. Love. Love is how we follow him. And love does no harm to another, nor seeks power over them.
And as for the ascension, it wasn’t about kingdom building here on earth. In fact, it makes it abundantly clear that the promise of God is not an earth-bound thing, and most certainly not one bound by the borders of any human created nation. God doesn’t favor the United States of America. Jesus doesn’t want us to create a Christian Nation. And the Holy Spirit isn’t trying to light a Pentecostal fire to spread right wing political views. Jesus isn’t something you can mold into a God of your own making folks or claim you own the rights to.
So, to those who foolishly gather today for that event on our National Mall, I will be praying for your souls, for the unhardening of your heart, for your return from this sinful heresy, and a reconciliation with Christ Jesus. I am grateful however for the work of Bishop Barber and other faith leaders who are countering that event with one of their own – Redirect 250 – via livestream at ReDirect250.org, a full day of faith leaders offering a far different message.
But taken all together – the push of Christian Nationalism by our government, the abuse of creation and of the people by the same – well, it is everything, all at once, everywhere. It just keeps on coming at us day after day after day. That is the purpose – to keep us distracted so we can’t focus.
To wear us down, so we have no strength to fight.
To gaslight us, so we are unsure of what is truth.
To frighten us so we are unable to move.
And so I wasn’t surprised to see a friend post something recently that said “Don’t ya just wish Jesus would walk into the room with a cup of coffee, sit down, and say “Ok, here’s what we’re going to do.” Now I admit that these days I would LOVE Jesus to make a visible appearance and do a bit of table turning. I mean, can you imagine if he went to the National Mall today – you know, popped in on them and said “Ummm…whatcha doin?” and then began teaching them about loving your neighbor, and blessed are the poor and meek? As awesome as that might be, the government would probably arrest him – being a person of color with a foreign accent.
And the truth of our faith is that, while he may not pop physically and say “I’m baaacccckkk!” Jesus does come to us – all the time in fact. Now he may not be pouring more coffee into his Dunkin Donuts mug, but nevertheless he is there with each of us as we wonder what to do to change things, and as we consider if we even have the ability or the energy to make a difference. That is what his life, death, resurrection, and ascension means for us. Jesus didn’t leave those earliest followers, nor has he abandoned us.
The disciples came to know that as they returned to Jerusalem to pray together. And once the Holy Spirit came, they could feel Christ was still with him. By the spirit’s indwelling, they were able to discern what they were called to do. That is when they came to know that the ascension wasn’t a goodbye, it was a sendoff – not for Jesus, but for his followers. For Jesus was still present with them through the Holy Spirit.
The same is true for us.
We don’t claim the Christ who was, but the Christ who is! The Eucharist is not a remembrance meal, but a celebratory feast of thanksgiving for Christ who is present with us even still. And in it, we are given strength for our journey to serve Jesus in the world today. Through our prayer he helps us wrestle with the challenges we face today, and discern what we, alongside him, will do about them.
So, the next time you are having a cup of whatever and thinking about all that is happening in the world, know this: Jesus isn’t up in some clouds floating around, he actually is there with you to help you discern what you are called to do, and to rise up and know that you are enough to fight that good fight, that today is another opportunity to build up the only kingdom God cares about – the beloved community.
Then, set that cup down, walk out that door, and let your prophetic voice ring out for the voiceless among us.
Let your love be a healing balm for the oppressed and vulnerable.
Let your feet march forward without fear toward empire, and your hands tear down the prisons of hate it has built.
Let your faith be a witness to the true gospel of unconditional love and overturn the tables of Christian Nationalism.
For Christ is risen, he is with us even still.
And with him by our side, there is no power on this earth that can defeat us,
no breach that we cannot repair by his love,
no darkness that his light working in us and through us cannot overcome.
And day by day, as we build that beloved community together with Christ, just like the old civil rights song, born of the faith of those who followed Jesus, proclaims…
We shall walk hand in hand.
We shall live in peace.
We shall all be free.
We are not afraid.
For we shall overcome some day.
Amen.
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
May 17, 2026
The Seventh Sunday of Easter – Year A
1st Reading – Acts 1:6-14
2nd Reading – 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
Gospel – John 17:1-11
