Today we have Biblical support to have worship services on the internet, that is, virtual. Acts 1:9 says “[Jesus] was lifted up as they watched, and a cloud overcame him and hid him from his eyes.” The only question is, which cloud: Amazon Web Services, or Microsoft Azure?
While the disciples were looking at the sky two angels gently redirected them. They said, “Why are you looking at the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you to heaven, will come in the same way, just as they had seen him to heaven.” The holy cross was the path that Jesus took to go to heaven, his throne, glory, power and kingdom.
Search for Jesus where there is suffering. Jesus will come to you.
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Once upon a time there was a pastor, a Lutheran Pastor, whose name was Bob Quello. Bob Quello. He was my pastor. He was tall, and from the pacific northwest. Bob came to our church in Sedona, Arizona and was loved and admired. He was tall with a big booming voice. The first time that I remember meeting pastor Quello, we were moving him and his wife from one house to another. We had a Uhaul truck, and some members from the church including myself, a teenager at the time, helped with the move. They were staying in a house that was built on a hillside somewhere near airport mesa. When we entered the home, his wife, Jan, greeted us by waving her arms and shushing us away from her husband, “Bob.” She said, “Bob is video editing like mad.” I looked and saw him staring at a small color TV, with some controls in front of him, a pile of gadgets and wires, and some kind of a joystick. He didn’t even acknowledge that we were there to move all of his stuff! Jan directed us toward the piles of boxes. She explained that there was some special family event coming up and Bob was making a video montage. We carried the boxes to the uhaul truck.
The house they were moving into was further on the west side of town off of Dry Creek road. The neighborhood was called Arroyo Seco. But it turned out this was just another rental house, for Pastor Bob Quello and his wife Jan would be building a custom home near the church. I would end up spending quite a bit of time helping to build that house.
Eventually Pastor Quello stopped “video editing like mad,” and helped us move his earthly possessions and even drove the Uhaul. I sat in the passenger seat while he drove west down 89A. The sun hung low on the horizon and Pastor Quello folded down the visor pushing it forward all the way so that it touched the windshield. I had never seen that before. It was strange. My parents, and everyone I had ever ridden in the car with, folded the visor down just a little so that it pointed more toward their forehead as opposed to the windshield. I believe I must have said something about this, because I remember him saying that it was safer to point it forward in case one was in an accident the visor was out of the way and not protruding toward one’s forehead. It was at that moment that I realized that perhaps this man of God, knew some things that I and my family did not. Perhaps he was somebody worth listening to. At the very least I could pick up tips on how to properly pace a sun visor in a UHaul truck.
We were not able to take all of the Quello’s boxes and furniture in just one trip, there were several. On the way back from the new rental we drove south down Dry Creek Road. In the distance above House Mountain or perhaps even beyond hovered in the air a constellation of thunderhead clouds glowing gold, orange, and red. The pastor pointed at them and remarked how beautiful they were. I agreed. It is widely known and accepted that Arizona has the best sunsets in the universe. It was also fortunate that those thunder clouds were not on top of us in which case we would be being rained on and carrying soggy cardboard boxes or worried about getting struck by lightning.
When Jesus ascended into heaven it appeared as though he went into a cloud. God has used clouds throughout salvation history as a way of mediating the presence of the divine and holy with the mundane. Clouds accompanied Moses on Mount Sinai. Jesus was transfigured in a cloud. To be in a cloud, however, is not always a good feeling. You cannot see. There could be lightning, freezing rain, and a sheer disorienting unknowability.
It must have been hard for the disciples to say goodbye to Jesus that day he went into a cloud. They had just endured the trauma of the crucifixion, and were barely warming up to the possibility that Jesus had resurrected. Now he was leaving them again? For good? Was this goodbye? How do you say, “goodbye” to someone you love and admire so much?
Pastor Quello ministered to me through adolescence, confirmation, and graduating High School. During this time Pastor Quello was diagnosed with cancer. He lost all of his hair, and grew thin. He didn’t hide the fact that he had been a smoker for many years of his life, and likely made a point to dissuade me and the other impressionable teenagers away from the vice. When I was a freshman in college at Northern Arizona University, Pastor Quello died. I went home for the funeral. After the funeral one of his grandsons sat outside with his head hung. He held a plastic plate in his hand loosely, and droplets of rain fell on it. I felt so bad for him. I was sad that my pastor died, but he lost his grandpa. If there was any solace that day, it was that it rained. In the desert a rainy day is a sign of God’s blessing, a tribute to man who faithfully served God.
When Jesus ascended into heaven the disciples stood around looking up at the clouds. Maybe they were waiting for him to come back, or perhaps the clouds were beautiful to look at. After a while though, two angels gently told them to move forward, and not pine away looking at the sky. They said Jesus would come back from heaven the way he went to heaven. At Bible study this week someone asked the question, if he was coming back the way he left, then what was the problem with the disciples staring at the clouds. Wouldn’t that be the right thing to do? Didn’t Jesus go to heaven through the sky and clouds?
Yes and no. It can be comforting to occasionally see a sign from God in the clouds. Jesus’ path to heaven, however, is most clearly seen through the cross. When he gave his life in sacrificial love he joined heaven to earth. In the trauma and confusion of that day, Good Friday, the disciples must have felt as though they were walking in a hazy cloud of unknowing. Indeed, suffering physically, emotionally, and spiritually is like being in a hazy cloud. The paradox of faith is to see the love and power of God revealed in suffering. The power of the cross is foolishness to the wise.
Pastor Quello told me once, actually more than once, that it had been his personal goal to send 12 people to seminary. He would look me in the eye and say, “I’m at eleven, Wes.” He would stare me down then Jan would sidle up to me and whisper in my ear, “He’s saying he thinks you’d be a good pastor, dear.” Despite the pressure it felt good to be given affirmation, and to have someone see gifts in me for ministry and leadership. It is good to have a friend with which to look at the sky, to admire the beauty of clouds, but to also carry boxes and furniture. To not be ashamed of the cross, but to take it up with a glad heart, to carry it around, and know that we will see Jesus there too. Amen.
Grace Lutheran Church will be showing our love and faith in God by giving financially to people who are suffering from physical and emotional hunger. You are invited to a Drive Thru Fellowship event at our parking lot in two weeks, on Sunday June 7 at 12:00pm noon. Drive in, you will receive a prayer card that we ask you to fill out. You will loop around the parking lot, and then you will stop to turn in your prayer card. You may donate $25 grocery store gift cards to help feed families in need. If you don’t have $25 to donate a gift card, then we want you one, no questions asked. First come first served. Come be blessed.
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