Acts 1:1-11

            {Prayer}

            In a year and a half from now, in 2028, Salem Lutheran will be celebrating its 100^th anniversary. While planning hasn’t started yet, I’m envisioning a year-long series of mini celebrations with one big celebration at the end.

            One of the things that will happen then will be taking a stroll down the church hallway, down memory lane. You can do that to a degree now as you walk down the two hallways connecting to the gym. The hallway by the bathrooms has all the pictures of previous Little Lamb Preschool years. The other hallway has all the confirmation pictures taken here in this building. Go down the hallway leading to the Sunday School rooms and you have all the members who have served and currently are serving in the military.

Go out to the cross and the walkway leading up to it, the names and dates of all the pastors who have served are engraved in stone.

            There are photo directories and memory books. Plaques in memory of sainted individuals who are no longer with us.  

            All these things matter. They show us who we were in that moment of time. They remind us of God’s faithfulness over the years.

            But churches can also be tempted to act like a museum. We preserve memories. We admire the past. We remember the ‘good old days.’

            A museum says, “Look what used to happen here.” However, this morning, Acts 1 says, “Jesus is still working here.”

            Let’s set the scene up again.

            Jesus is eating with his disciples and after telling them that they will receive the power of the Holy Spirit and be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth … Jesus is taken up before them. Jesus ascends up into the sky and the cloud receives Him. The disciples, they stand there staring into the sky. Staring in awe and wonder. It’s not every day a man elevates to the clouds and disappears.

            While they’re staring into the sky, two angels show up. “Hey! Why do you stand here staring into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back” (Acts 1:11). In other words, there is work to be done between now and the time Jesus returns. The disciples are not called to stand still staring upward. They are called to bear witness.

            Like the disciples, we can become stuck. We can become spiritually stuck. Looking at the past, there is this calming sense of nostalgia that sets in. A desire to go back to the good old days. Those days before Covid. Those days before travel sports and cell phones. There can be a sense of preserving traditions, preserving the way we have always done things at the cost of the church’s mission. Remember when we used to do that one thing?

            And sometimes that temptation shows up much closer to home than church hallways and history books. It shows up around our own family tables. We get comfortable. We settle in. Faith becomes something we once did, rather than something we are actively living and sharing.

            Here’s the thing … the Church was never called to stand still staring upward. The Church was never called to become a museum of the past.

            Notice what Luke says in the very first verse … “All that Jesus began to do and teach …” (Acts 1:1). Luke says a lot through that little word began.

            Through that word Luke implies that Jesus is still working. The whole book of Acts shows us that Christ’s ministry continues on, that the Church goes on. Even though Jesus ascended into heaven, He very much remains active today.

            How do we know? Well, what is Jesus still doing today, doing here among us?

            Jesus forgives sin. “In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins.” Not just long ago. Not just somewhere in the pages of Scripture. Here. For you.

            Jesus still calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies His Church through the Holy Spirit. Jesus still baptizes. Jesus still feeds His people through His Word and through the bread and the wine, His own body and blood in Holy Communion. Jesus still comforts. Jesus still reigns. Jesus still sends His people into the world.

            Christianity is deeply historical, but Jesus is not trapped in history. We do not merely remember Christ as a figure of the past. We belong to Him. We belong to a living Savior.

            The Church is living. She is a living body, not a display case that sits still and collects dust. Museums do a great job of preserving things. They protect things and display them so that you can look at them.

            Bodies are different. Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 12 that you and I and all Christians make up the body of Christ. A body moves. A body breathes. A body serves others. A body speaks to others. A body goes out into the world.

            Living things move. And that means the Church has work to do.

            As the body of Christ, there are things for you and me to do. We are to pray. Pray for those close to us. Pray for those who aren’t here, that God would move our feet and our mouths to invite them back. Pray that God would work in their hearts to come back.

            The mission field isn’t only somewhere overseas. Sometimes it begins at your own dinner table, with your children, your grandchildren, your neighbors, your co-workers, or the friend you haven’t invited to church yet.

            We also wait in eager anticipation for the day in which Christ returns. When He restores not only our bodies to perfection but this creation to perfection. As we wait, we don’t sit around like artifacts and collect dust. We prepare. We prepare our hearts and minds for the day Jesus returns. We help prepare our children, our youth, and those outside of these walls to be ready.

            For the disciples, Pentecost was still coming. For us, the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost has been delivered to us through Baptism and through the Word of God

            With the Holy Spirit, we are all called to be Christ’s witnesses. We have a mission. The mission of the Church is not merely to maintain buildings, to preserve memories, and to survive the times. No. The mission of the Church is to proclaim Christ, to spread the Gospel message, the love of Jesus so that all of God’s children will be home.

            Christ continues seeking and saving the lost through His Church. As part of the priesthood of all believers, we are called to forgive the sins committed against us. We are called to serve our neighbor, to help them in all times of trouble, and to put the best construction on all things.

            Jesus says in Matthew 28, before He ascends into heaven that we are to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them all that He commanded us. We do this because Jesus is still working in and through His Church.

            The story of the disciples did not end when Jesus ascended. If it did, the book of Acts, the Bible would have ended with the ascension of Jesus.

            Those pictures down the halls, they matter. The history books matter. They remind us that God has been faithful. They remind us that Christ has worked here. But …

            They are not exhibits from a finished story.

The book of Acts goes on to tell of the birth and life of the Church. Those things of the past, they are there to remind us that Jesus still works through His people. He still works through you.

            The disciples … they eventually stopped staring up into the sky. They returned to Jerusalem, replaced Judas, and went on to faithfully serve God’s Church. They would go out into Jerusalem. They would expand to Judea, to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

            Acts is the story of what Jesus continued to do through His people. Revelation is the culmination of the story. But we aren’t to Revelation yet. Jesus hasn’t returned.

So … what are we going to do? How are we going to react? Are we going to collect dust? Or are we going to live out the Christian vocation given to us by Jesus and reach out to our Jerusalems, our Judeas, our Samarias, and our ends of the earth?

Because Jesus is alive, His Church is alive. Because Jesus is still working, His people still have a purpose. The Church is not a museum of what Christ once did. It is the living body through which He still works today.

Whatever we do, may it all be done to bring glory and honor to Christ alone. Amen.

The peace of God, that surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and forever. Amen.