Changing Our Perspective
A Sermon for Ascension Sunday
Rev. Deborah Troester, May 21, 2023, STHPC
It’s good to be back in the pulpit. I have missed all of you. Joe and I had a wonderful time in Paris. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to take some time off and relax. We got to walk on the Seine, watch the Eiffel Tower light up at night, and visit Monet’s beautiful gardens in Giverny, where he painted his famous waterlily canvases. We took lots of photos, and, of course, many selfies – some of which are on my Facebook page, if you are interested.
The rise of the selfie began with the invention of the smartphone – a device used mostly for things other than making phone calls. I read recently that, “The average woman between 16 and 25 years old spends over five hours a week taking (and improving!) selfies”: the make-up, the lighting, the hairstyle and clothing must be perfect, and of course, there are filters to fix all of this, or make it funny or more glamorous. This can be fun, but it can also become an obsession. Focusing on ourselves, our appearance and how we compare with others can cause low self-esteem, and even depression.
But, lest we blame the current crop of young people for an unhealthy focus on themselves, let’s remember that long before there were selfies, there was the “Me-Generation” – the Baby Boomers. Journalist Tom Wolfe created the term back in 1976 to describe us as a generation “rooted in postwar prosperity,” enjoying what he called “the luxury of the self.” He wrote in New York Magazine that the 70’s was the “Me Decade,” and that the Boomer mantra was, “Let’s talk about Me!” Forty years later, Time magazine ruffled feathers by proclaiming Millennials the “Me, Me, Me” generation. Indeed, I recall the popularity of the song and t-shirt slogan, “It’s all about me,” from the early 2000’s. All of these are unfair generalizations, yet thinking of oneself first is part of human nature. After all, it's a survival mechanism for babies to cry when they need something, and children have to be taught to share – it doesn’t come naturally. I have to admit, that even if I wouldn’t ever say, “It’s all about me,” that’s how I act a lot of the time. It’s all about me, my family, my church, my friends – the things I’m interested in.
It’s also human nature to stick to one’s family, group, or tribe. From the earliest times, the tribe that cooperated had a better chance of survival than groups that fought among themselves. It’s good to stick together, but in recent years, we have become so divided by politics, economic status, race, and so on, that we don’t even treat each other with basic civility sometimes. We think our group’s interests are more important than others. Our group is right. The others are wrong. Our group has to win.
So it’s only human nature for us to focus on ourselves and our own family, tribe, or political faction. Jesus’ disciples in today’s scriptures are no different. For three years they heard Jesus’ teachings, saw him perform miracles, witnessed the crucifixion, and the resurrection. Now, as he is about to ascend back into heaven, all they can think of is to ask, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” The disciples still thought it was all about them and their people, their agenda. They still didn’t understand why Jesus had come. Prophesies about the Messiah had been interpreted politically; people thought the Messiah would throw off the Roman yoke and restore Israel’s former glory. Even after three years with Jesus, it was hard for the disciples to rid themselves of that expectation.
They still thought Jesus had come to restore the literal, political kingdom to Israel, rather than to establish the kingdom of God. They were so focused on their own plans, what they wanted Jesus to accomplish for them and for their people, that they couldn’t see that what God was doing concerned the entire world, not just one small country.
The disciples were looking inward, but Jesus was calling them to look outward. Jesus called them to change their perspective. Just as he had called the first disciples on Lake Galilee to become fishers of people, he was calling them again to spread the good news of God’s love and redemption, this time not just in their own little corner of the world, but everywhere.
They did not understand what Jesus is talking about, because they were too focused on themselves. Just like us. We have our own agendas and ideas, too, and our plans are often out of sync with God’s plans. Like the disciples, we can be so preoccupied with our preconceived ideas about what we want God to do for us and our family, that we are blinded to what God is already doing in our lives and in the world, and to what God actually wants us to do.
Our natural human self-centeredness leads to a myopic view of reality – it’s all about me. But God wants to open our eyes, to change our perspective, to give us a glimpse of a universe in which we find our restoration in connection with God and with God’s children, wherever and whoever they may be – not in fulfilling our own personal ambitions, but by becoming a part of God’s plans for the redemption of the world.
Even though the disciples frame their question in the future tense: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” they are still looking toward the past, to Israel’s golden age, when David vanquished all their enemies and Solomon built his splendid temple. They aren’t looking toward the future, but to the past. We, too, are tempted to want to go back to “the good old days.”
We are not very different from the disciples. We, too, are tempted to want to go back to “the good old days.” Like the disciples, we ask,
Lord, at this time will you restore my life to the way it was before? Before I lost my job? My home? My loved one? Lord, at this time will you restore my marriage to how it was before? Lord, at this time will you restore my life to the way it was before the pandemic?
But Jesus doesn’t scold the disciples for asking the wrong question, and he doesn’t scold us either. Instead, he gently refocuses their attention, and ours, saying: “…when the Holy Spirit has come upon you… you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” In other words, look beyond yourself. Look beyond your family, your city, your country; God’s vision encompasses the entire world, all of creation, indeed the universe. God invites us to look beyond ourselves, beyond our own concerns to those of our neighbors, our city and nation, and even to the ends of the earth. God wants to change our perspective.
Jesus is still challenging us to look outside of ourselves to the future toward which God beckons us. God is doing a new thing. God specializes in doing new things. As Isaiah wrote: “See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare.” “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 42.9 and 43.19).
How can we keep our eyes toward the future and not be drawn back into longing for the past?
How can we keep ourselves focused outward, and not inward on our own worries and fears? If we keep our eyes on Jesus, we cannot keep our eyes on the ground. If we look up to the risen and ascended Christ, it is hard to look back at the same time. But once we have looked into the eyes of Jesus and understood how much he loves us, it’s time to look around us, to share that love with others.
Someone told me that celebrating Ascension Sunday was more Lutheran than Presbyterian, but I disagree. We Presbyterians are great doers. We see a problem, and we want to solve it. As the disciples stood there gazing at Jesus, two men dressed in white – Luke’s way of saying they were angels – ask, “Why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” In other words, don’t just stand there, do something! Jesus may have left us here on earth, but he commissioned us to be his witnesses, and he promised that the Holy Spirit would give us the power to do this. We witness to Jesus in both word and deed – by telling what he has done for us, but mostly by showing God’s love acts of kindness and service to others.
Over the course of my life I have met a lot of people who have changed their perspective from just focusing on themselves and their own problems to helping others in Jesus’ name. My friends Ingrid and Ron have spent about half of their time in retirement doing volunteer work in Tanzania. Audrey, a retired teacher and school counselor, joined us in the Central African Republic for six months to teach our daughter and prepare her for secondary school. I have met people who volunteered at hospitals in Cameroon, a seminary in Zambia, and a home for street children in Kenya. You don’t have to travel around the world. Right here in our congregation are people who give their time to volunteer at local ministries, such as SMUM and Second Harvest. We can all ask God for help in looking outward, not inward, to change our perspective, and share God’s love.
It's not bad to take care of yourself – to eat healthy foods, exercise, and get enough rest – but when we focus solely on ourselves, we are in the process of dying. As we change our perspective, and reach out to others, we draw in new life and hope.
What goes for an individual also goes for a church.
If the church focuses on itself and its own needs and problems, it will die; if it only wants to stay in the past, how can God do a new thing? It is only when we open up to Jesus’ call to “proclaim the good news to all people” that we find life, and give the Holy Spirit scope to work. Jesus knew that as long as we stick to our own agendas, to our own ego-centric concerns, spiritual growth is impossible. When we change our perspective, when we dare to look beyond ourselves, even to the ends of the earth, we find that wholeness and healing are possible. The risen and ascended Christ beckons us forward. Let us follow him. Amen.
https://childmind.org/article/what-selfies-are-doing-to-girls-self-esteem/
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2013/05/me-me-me-generation-vs-the-me-decade.html
© Deborah Troester, 2023