The word for "meditate" in Hebrew comes from the root which means "Chewing the cud." Not cattle or sheep we nonetheless, have a lot to chew on today. So much for me to chew on that the greatest part of preparing this homily was finding out where to begin. I finally decided to just dive in where the juice was for me and see what happened. I commend this method to you as you read the scriptures. Determine where the most energy is in the reading for you on that day and follow that.

I am blessed today by the parallel between Ephesians-with this lovely phrase about the eyes of our hearts being enlightened-and Luke telling us that Jesus opened the disciples' minds to understand the scriptures.

Neither phrase has its full weight in English because of the understanding of the mind and the heart in Jewish tradition at that time. There was no sense of them being different from each other-or separate. The mind and the heart were one-intellect was not at all divorced from heart strength. Nor were they separate from body. A person does not just have a mind, a heart, a body, but IS a mindheartbody. This is so challenging a concept that I have incorporating it into my awareness.

One way I really get it is through remembering what happens to me when I read good poetry. I wake up in a way that joins my heart and mind-and soul-seamlessly. Something in me dances with the words and the spirit that infuses them. I feel this in a bodily way: my heart leaping.

Hear this one from Emily Dickinson-on the Ascension:

At least-to pray-is left-is left

Oh Jesus-in the Air

I know not which thy chamber is-

I'm knocking-everywhere.

Dickinson captures so much in these four short lines.

Yes, the disciples did wind up in a place of joy-praising God in the temple-after the Ascension. But they had to get there. First they had to have been struggling with the news that he would be leaving them AGAIN. Hearts broken, they lost him through the crucifixion. Hearts and minds bursting with joy and wonder they, received him back through the resurrection. And now he says he is leaving again??? They have to let go of him again?

I have this terribly irreverent picture in my head of Peter holding onto Jesus' feet as he ascended. "NO JESUS. DON'T GO!!!"

While the ascension is not necessarily about Jesus going physically UP, there must have been an emotional reality to that. "NO JESUS. DON'T GO!!!"

After the resurrection he was with them for forty days-continuing to teach and love and prepare them for the next thing, the next part of his journey and theirs. He did all he could to help them move in the direction of understanding that he would be lifted up-as in exalted-and received into the heart of God. And through that he would be with each and all everywhere.

At least-to pray-is left-is left

Oh Jesus-in-the Air

I know not which thy chamber is

I'm knocking-everywhere.

That is where he will be, through the gift of the Spirit. Everywhere.

Everywhere we knock in faith we find him…in nature, in our hearts and minds, in the weary wonderful souls we meet, in those who do his work with abandon-everywhere.

The ascension was essential. Without it Jesus was limited by his body: unable to be with them except where his body was. The incarnation is an amazing thing, but the incarnation was not enough.

So he taught them: I must go so that you can receive the gift of my Spirit dwelling with you-within you-in your hearts and minds and bodies-where ever you are.

As grand and mysterious as the Ascension is, there is more to chew on today. There is what Jesus opened their minds TO when he illuminated their hearts and revealed the heart of the scriptures.

What was written is true-truer than true:

The messiah must-and did suffer-

must-and did rise from the dead and repentance and forgiveness

must-and is proclaimed in his name to all nations.

I got this in a new way this time around I heard "clean up your act and you will be forgiven." Period. Clean up your act and whatever you have done and been will be released. It will not be held against you. You will get an utterly fresh start.

Now this is true of each of us, but that is not the whole meaning of the scripture. Rather, the NATIONS must repent. The nations-the body of the people-must live the prophetically proclaimed life: caring for the widow and the orphan, forgiving the debt of those buried by it, and stopping the oppression and enslavement of all. Ending the warring between us, we must each do this and we must all do it. Together.

Individual repentance is not enough for Christ to turn this aching, wounded, lost world around. We must all turn. Whole communities, whole societies, whole nations are called to repent and receive an absolutely fresh start.

This was driven home for me as I attended anti-racism training last week. I thought I knew quite a bit about the history of racism in our country. I knew about the horrors of slavery and the impact of shattering families for generations. I knew prejudice against black Americans continues to oppress. I knew about the systematized oppression and genocide of the Native Americans. I knew a little about the internment of Japanese Americans in WWII and about the new law in Arizona that actually makes racial profiling, particularly of Mexican Americans, more likely. I knew a little about each of these. And I knew that as a white person I am privileged in this part of the world. I can go places without being bothered. I have a relative sense of freedom to pursue my dreams that is not made more difficult by perceptions and social realities connected to my skin color.

But I didn't get that piece thoroughly at all. I didn't get the degree to which it is true. It was driven home by an exercise in which we were asked questions about daily life through the lens of race. The ones I have named are part of it. There were 24 of them-24 freedoms-and I had 20 of them, no holds barred. The others were limits that were in place because of social class and gender.

But I had, with confidence, 20 of 24 freedoms because my skin is white.

One woman in the group-an African American woman-could only check 1!

Stunning and true.

Oppression is alive and well in the United States of America.

This piece is about race: A deeply entrenched sin in our society. We could do similar explorations of oppression based on class, on gender, on sexual orientation, on physical, mental or emotional disability-and more.

Our whole society needs to repent.

The promised gift of the Spirit is not parceled out bit by bit to infuse our solitary lives, though we are each a home of the indwelling Christ. It is given so that we may be Christ's body in the world. So that we may witness to the wonders of God's love and the empowerment we receive to be children of God-loving as Christ loves us.

More good news: we do not actually have to turn ourselves around. We just need to say yes to it-and yes-and yes-as the Spirit of Christ works within us each and all to transform us. Then we need to receive the power to make the choices that, bit by bit, continue the healing, and represent the saving reality of Christ in the world.

Ah, but that is a topic for next week! Today we await the gift of the Spirit anew, we await the remembrance that Christ did not ascend and leave us. Jesus was not exalted and received into the heart of God in a way that leaves us abandoned. Rather, his love for the world continues and infuses us and forgives us and renews us forever. More poetic illumination from Charles Wesley's hymn:

See! The heaven its Lord receives. Alleluia!

Yet he loves the earth he leaves. Alleluia!

Though returning to his throne, Alleluia!

Still he calls the world his own. Alleluia!

May we wait, always, to be empowered by the Spirit and allow it to infuse our lives and community so that we may be Christ to this world he so dearly loves. AMEN.

Reference: The Emily Dickinson poem is number 733.