Author: admin

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I turned 35 just a few days ago – and it struck me that I’m now two years older than Jesus.

He died at 33.

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Over the last several days, we’ve been listening to his final discourse in John’s Gospel; it’s Jesus’ final night on earth, so he tells his disciples everything he wants them to know before his death.

Most of what he teaches them is done so verbally. But there’s also a lesson he teaches them not by his words, but by his actions.

It’s that life is not about duration, but donation.

Time is God’s gift to us.

What matters is not how much we have, but how well we use it.

For his part, Jesus gives everything he has away – even his body as he hangs from the cross. Every moment of his life was time well spent.

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So many of our relatives and friends – and even some of you – have done the same. 

You’ve given your freedom, and some their lives, so that we might have ours. That’s what we celebrate this Memorial Day, the fact that life is not about duration, but donation.

It’s about service.

When I think about Memorial Day, my mind always drifts to the Greatest Generation. When World War Two broke out, so many of our soldiers weren’t even men; they were boys.

But they fought with courage and valor, many giving their lives for the sake of ours. They remind us that life is not about duration, but donation.

It’s about service.

Time is God’s gift to us. What matters – and ultimately what we’re judged upon – is how well we use it.

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We should consider how well we use the time we have, how we better the lives of other people. 

Most of us will not find ourselves on the shores of Normandy, or in the heart of Damascus.

But there are dozens of opportunities we have throughout our day to use our time well – to serve by being patient, thoughtful, and generous towards others.

Because the more we serve our neighbor, even in little ways, the more we become like Christ, who has loved us and given himself for us.

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Fifty-one years ago, a spacecraft named Apollo 11 was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, entering the earth’s orbit after only 12 minutes in flight.

Five days later, on July 21, 1969, Neil Armstrong opened the spacecraft’s doors, becoming the first person in history to step foot on the moon. 

Perhaps some of you remember the moment he spoke prophetically from space, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

The mission, which has left its mark on our national consciousness, was hailed as a scientific triumph. We’ve been exploring space ever since, reaching out for new solar systems and galaxies.

Our universe, it seems, is an infinite stretch of combusting stars, black holes, asteroids and lifeless planets.

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One could argue that landing on the moon has damaged our religious imagination. 

For millennia people arched their necks, squinted and stared into the bright blue sky, and prayed to the gods. 

Some still do.

How many of us, for example, have sung about heaven as a place, “Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, where troubles melt like lemon drops, high above the chimney top”?

But science has revealed to us time and again that that isn’t true. Heaven isn’t, “Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high.” 

All that exists out there are countless galaxies devoid of life. So if heaven can’t be reached with a turbo-charged rocket, then where is it?

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After all, on this Feast of the Ascension we celebrate our belief that Jesus was, “taken up into heaven.” 

So where in the world – or where in the universe – did he go? 

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It’s a troubling question, especially for those of us with empirically driven minds.

But thinking about heaven in scientific terms can lead us astray, because Jesus didn’t rise from the earth like a rocket launched from the Kennedy Space Center; his resurrection isn’t something you can prove via autopsy or telescope.

Rather, as the Acts of the Apostles accounts, Jesus, “was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.”

That’s right.

Jesus returned to heaven enveloped in a cloud.

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In the Bible, a cloud symbolizes much more than a puff of cotton-like matter floating effortlessly in the sky. 

A cloud represents the presence of God.

In the Book of Exodus, for example, Israel was led out of slavery in Egypt by the Lord, who appeared to them in a, “pillar of a cloud.” 

When Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive the 10 Commandments, God descended upon him in a cloud.

And in Jesus’ own ministry, think of the moment that he led his disciples up a mountain and was transfigured before them. His body glowed like a light bulb and his clothes became dazzling white.

Then his Father appeared to them in a bright cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him” (Matthew 17:5). 

Nobody saw the Father speaking from heaven; they only heard him hidden in a cloud.

And today Jesus ascends into heaven, once again, mysteriously enveloped in a cloud. 

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So what’s the point?

Heaven isn’t some place over the rainbow; we can’t reach it with rockets or see it with telescopes. It’s not meant for our eyes to behold – or our bodies to touch.

Not yet. 

Entrance into heaven only comes after living a life of faith in the Son of God, who has, “loved us and given himself for us” (Ephesians 5:2).

What we must focus on in the here-and-now is how we can follow Jesus just a little better – day-by-day, step-by-step. 

But before you know it, we’ll be knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door, a place that isn’t somewhere over the rainbow. 

No. It’s a place far beyond our wildest dreams.

Stay tuned.

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Athens was one of the most diverse cities in the ancient world. It was a city of intellects – and a city of gods. 

There were so many, some used to say, “In Athens, it is easier to meet a god than a person.” 

Statues, temples and altars were everywhere. 

Perhaps you’ve seen the most famous temple of them all, the Parthenon, located smack dab in the heart of Athens.

There, Greeks could offer sacrifices to any god they wanted, including at the altar to the, “unknown god.” 

Though the Greeks worshipped a god of the sky, a god of the sea, a god of wine and so on, they also worshipped an “unknown god,” because they could not box the Divine in.

God was bigger than they could ever imagine.

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Enter Saint Paul.

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Imagine him standing in the shadow of the Parthenon, where he begins preaching about Jesus. He is the “Unknown God,” the one through whom everything was created. 

If the Greeks want to worship God in his fullness, then they should worship Jesus. 

Amazingly, some are converted on the spot.

But they follow Saint Paul for two reasons: he makes logical arguments about our faith – he shows why it’s true… and he does so humbly. 

He doesn’t make them feel like fools.

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So many in our Church could learn from Paul’s example. 

Just because we know who God is, doesn’t mean that we should bear hatred or judgment in our hearts towards others who, like the Greeks, have an incomplete picture of God.

Rather, we should humbly dialogue with them, knowing that the truth converts people, but only when the messengers preach with love, not with arrogance.

How, then, can we share the Gospel message of salvation through Jesus humbly with others today?

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