“What Are You Staring At?” by Brian Flanagan, Fiat Ventures
Ascension & the Seventh Sunday of Easter
Have you ever zoned out during class? Maybe it’s twenty minutes before the end of the school day on a Friday and you can’t wait to get to soccer practice after school. Maybe you’re heading to work at Starbucks at the Mall where you’ll make Caramel Macchiatos like a boss. Maybe your family is heading down to your shore house for the weekend to get it ready for the season. Or maybe you finally have that date with the girl you’ve had your eye on since 4th grade and you’re going ice skating so you can have an excuse to hold hands (that really works by the way, ask my wife about one of our first dates…).
You’re daydreaming about what you’re doing as soon as the bell rings, and for all you know, your Pre-Calculus teacher could be giving a lecture on the American Revolution. Then she calls your name. Brian? Brian? Bueller? (By the way if you’ve never seen “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, I just saved you 45 minutes of scrolling through Netflix tonight wondering what to watch.)
You look up with a puzzled look on your face, and give a vague answer that makes it just believable enough that you were paying attention. Then you go back to thinking about the rush you get when the Dunkin’ Donuts regulars come into Starbucks for a “medium” coffee, and you get to shout Italian size-words to the back like “grande” to spite them.
In this week’s Gospel for the Ascension, the Apostles zone out for a bit. They’ve just seen the heavens open up and Jesus ascending to his throne in all his glory, and they just stand there. Five minutes go by. Ten minutes go by. They’re just standing there staring up at the sky thinking about all that they’ve seen. Not only this magnificent scene of the Ascension, but about all of it. Jesus’ teachings. His miracles. His friendship with them. His passion and death. His Resurrection. And now this.
Then two angels show up and say, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?” The Apostles needed a wake-up call to bring them back to reality. They were thinking about something other than the present moment – maybe even the fact that they’d one day be with Jesus in heaven, and they were looking forward to it, just like you zoned out during Pre-Calc waiting for the bell.
The angels had to tap them on the shoulder and remind them; that day will come, but for right now, there’s work to be done! Nine days later once the Holy Spirit came to them at Pentecost, they didn’t waste any time getting down to business.
So what can we take away from this? For one thing, we need to learn to encounter God in the present moment. Not just thinking back on a great retreat experience we had or looking ahead to our next fun youth ministry summer service trip. We need to encounter Christ in the people around us every day, and we also need to encounter Christ in prayer every day. The majority of our lives as Christians won’t show up in the highlight reel of our life of faith, but in many ways living out our faith daily is more important than the big momentous events and experiences.
Hopefully you’ve haven’t zoned out while trying to read this, and maybe next time you start daydreaming in class, don’t just think about ice skating with your 4th grade crush or vacationing at LBI, try daydreaming about your adventurous life of faith and what God has in store for you next!