Finding God in the Pandemic #6

Ascension of the Lord Sunday
May 21, 2020
Acts 1: 1-11

Some months ago, before most of us had experienced virtual church, I was the guest preacher at a church in Kentucky. One of the hymns that day was, "Amazing Grace". "Let's sing the first, second and fifth stanzas", the Minister of Music told the congregation. It wasn't the minister's fault. He didn't know me. He knew nothing about my life story. But my spirit sank. The third stanza is a powerful word of grace to me. However, it wasn't important enough for the church to sing the third stanza that morning. "Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come. 'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home."

It was about five in the afternoon. The year was 1983. Everybody in the church office at First Baptist, Augusta had gone home. A knock on my door. I opened the door. "My name is Tracy Chewning." A kind smile crossed his face. "I'm the pastor," Tracy told me, "of a small Baptist church in Augusta". "I've been there as pastor for 38 years," he said. 

"Chuck," he called me. "I heard about your son." Our family had been in Augusta, Georgia, for two and a half months as pastor of First Baptist. Our son, David, had some baffling symptoms. The pediatrician recommended that David spend the night at the hospital, where he had tests including a CT scan. After the scan was read, the neurosurgeon told my wife and me that David had a malignant brain tumor. Later, the surgeon said it was a "pinealoma". It could be treated with surgery and radiation, but the surgery would be risky, and the radiation treatments would take a heavy toll on David. 

I sat in my office that afternoon wondering how my wife, my 13 year old daughter, and all of us would make it through this valley. 

"Chuck," Tracy said as he walked by my side, "I came to hold your hand and to pray for you." When he had finished his prayer, he recited the third stanza of "Amazing Grace". "Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come. 'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home." "Don't ever forget the words", Tracy said. I saw Tracy several times after that and told him that he was "my angel". 

I have shared David's story in sermons that I've preached. While David has not been able to do some things that we dreamed for him, he is as sensitive and caring as any person that I know. David was not able to go to college, become a successful businessperson, a star football player, or, maybe, a minister like his dad. 

One Sunday I told David's story at a church where I was preaching. "We took David to the edge, felt the cold mist of death in our faces," but I said that Sunday, "We were able to bring him back." 

After the worship service, I was talking to some of the church members. An attractive, nicely-dressed couple, who looked for all the world that nothing had ever deeply wounded them, took my hands in theirs. "We went to the edge," the woman said, "but we didn't bring our daughter back." She didn't say it as if I had won and she had lost. She spoke with the sensitivity of a fellow struggler. Her words were the words of a person whose own suffering had given her extraordinary empathy. 

I can't help but think about the people who have died and will die in this viral pandemic. Older people in long term care facilities; children; people across our globe who have no running water; inmates and corrections officers who work in prisons; members of indigenous tribes who were in this land first but now seem to be the last in line. I could die. I don't sit around thinking about it, but I'm certainly old enough to be a "vulnerable".

What do we do? Take care of those who suffer because they have no food and nowhere to sleep. Be attentive to those who have a spouse in a care facility, and the rule is that you can't hold the hand of the husband whose hand was always by your side. 

What I need is hope. Not hope in myself, but hope in a gracious God in whom I trust.

This is Ascension Sunday. We have journeyed through the seven Sundays of Easter. We needed that long to let Easter be more than just an event in history but for us to realize the resurrected Jesus as our hope. 

Next week is Pentecost Sunday. The Spirit of God comes in fire. The church is born. The disciples' fear becomes courage and timidity becomes boldness.

Today, though, is Ascension Sunday. Look at Acts 1. Jesus reminds the disciples that they will be witnesses in all Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Then Jesus ascends, and the disciples can't take their eyes off what they are seeing. 

Then two men in white appear and ask, "Men of Galilee, why are you gazing? Jesus will come back." Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost - It's time to have a witness! There may be times "to gaze", but we've been changed. It's now times for the followers of Jesus to go and not just gaze. 

Do you know what I'm going to do? There's a widow in our church. She lives alone. I'm not going to email her. I'm not going to text her. What I'm going to do is call her, tell her how special she's been to me, listen to her with reverence, and then share the story of my angel, Tracy Chewning. "Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. 'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home."

I wonder? Do you have a call you need to make?

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