I’ve hated hospitals most of my life. Growing up, we rarely went to them unless something was seriously wrong. Our family health code was, “keep your guts on the inside and walk it off.” Partly due to lack of medical coverage and partly due to old fashioned Slovakian/Irish pride and stubbornness.

That changed when I was in CPE at Lancaster General Hospital during seminary. CPE stands for Clinical Pastoral Education. Basically, it gets you in front of all sorts of different people, and you have to build your pastoral toolbox and learn how to respond to another person’s need right in front of you. To the mother with a sick kid, to the junkie who overdosed, to the patient who was in a car crash who just lost their partner but they don’t know it yet. You have to minister to them all. Sit with them in their time of need, and pray in a way that is meaningful to them. That includes all types of Christians, agnostics, Wiccans, atheists, and more, I helped them all as best I could.

On May 22, 2015, I sat next to my son Sam in the Toledo Hospital. We’d had a grueling day filled with ups and downs. He was coughing, running a high fever, and was dehydrated. His fever broke in the afternoon, and he was bouncing around. I thought we were going home. But it came back that night and laid him out again. I sat up through the night with him. I sat next to his bed and didn’t sleep a wink. The church showed up. They checked on Kate. One congregant was a chaplain and magically appeared in Sam’s hospital room. I am so grateful for this experience. I have a wonderful reminder of what it’s like to be in need and to have others pray for you and ask you if anything needs to be done. All things that you do here. Our Circle of Caring ministry is vibrant and vital. It’s a ministry of showing up and just being with someone. And it means the world. Sometimes it’s easy to be the helper, much harder to be helped. At least it is for me. I’m used to being the helper, but not the helped.

Our denomination stands upon two basic concepts: Autonomy and Covenant. Autonomy means each person is responsible for their walk with Christ. We are Protestants and believe in the “Priesthood of All Believers.” There are no bishops, no hierarchy. We select our own ministers, elect our own officials, and structure ourselves as we see fit. Yet we are balanced by covenant. We know that we are bound in the great story of the Church and in the Good News of Jesus Christ. We covenant with other churches to work toward the establishment of God’s beloved community.

Our church is Congregationalist in heritage. There was an emphasis on religious liberty. We had to help as we saw fit, just like the early church. Christ said, “Whoever welcomes me, welcomes the one who sent me.” Out of these scriptures, we try to give water to the thirsty and food to the hungry. We are the great helpers! We help through our many missions, outreach events, and even in our educational efforts. We have a long and storied past that we are living out.

Yet I wonder… I wonder if we can be the ones helped. Helping is grand and noble, but we cannot fall silent when trouble befalls us. That is when we truly need community. As I sat in that hospital room, watching over my son, I was in most need of community. I needed my church most. Yet my pride kept me quiet. In our deepest need, we withdraw when we should be most open. We quiet when we should ask for help. We isolate when we most need community. But heaven isn’t isolation, heaven is perfect community. Just as God is in perfect community, three-in-one, so we shall be. Best to begin our training for heaven here and now!

On this particular day, we look to the Ascension. A few clergy friends of mine wrote a different version to help us understand what this means. They state that Jesus gathers with his friends and begins to teach them, saying, “Resist! Pray for enemies!  Turn the other cheek!  Go the extra mile! And of course, love one another. Every single other.”

When he had said all this, a voice from the heavens booms, “ASCEND!”  And so, Jesus did.  He spread out his arms, looked up to heaven with a smile, and slowly began to rise.

The disciples watch, stunned, and suddenly, Mary, realizing what is happening, gives a shout, backs up to get a running start, and LEAPS up to grab Jesus’s ankle.  “I’m coming too!” she cries.  John, seeing what is happening, jumps up and grabs Jesus’ OTHER ankle.  Jesus, slightly concerned, stops and looks down at them and then back up to heaven and asks: “God, what do I do?”  And God says, “ASCEND!”  And so, all together, holding on to one another, lifting each other up, they all begin to rise.

Now the other disciples, seeing Mary and John rising with Jesus, they want to go, too, so suddenly all of Jesus’ friends are jumping and grabbing onto their ankles, and Mary and John and Jesus reach out to pull them up until there is a small pyramid of people swinging from each other in the sky.  A little alarmed, Jesus asks again, “What do I do, God?” Again, the voice from heaven BOOMS, “ASCEND!”  And all together, holding on to one another, lifting each other up, they all begin to rise.

Then people from all over, folks who had seen Jesus’ miracles or heard him preach, people who had seen the friends of Jesus feed the hungry and show kindness, they begin to jump up and grab onto the lower most disciples, and slowly, all together, holding on to one another, lifting each other up, they all begin to rise.

But a little girl way at the bottom shouts, “Stop, wait! I want to bring my dog!”  And Jesus, WAY up at the top yells back down, “Try to hurry – I don’t know how this works!”

So the little girl, still scanning the horizon, reaches out and grabs tightly onto a tree branch. Everyone keeps rising and the tree begins to rise too, and it looks like the tree will be uprooted, but the tree curls its toes and holds on tight to the earth.  And the earth starts to rise, too, but it reaches out to the sea, and the sea grabs hold with its waves and HOLDS  ON tight and no one lets go and slowly, all together, holding on to one another, lifting each other up, the whole world is drawn closer to God.

I picked a provocative title for this, the Sunday before July 4^th. Have you been waiting to hear politics? Is your radar tuned to be offended by something? I’ve been preaching politics this whole time. Politics is simply how we are to live together. Politic means in Greek, “affairs of the city.” Citizens trying to live together. When many say, “no politics from the pulpit” what they really mean is “don’t teach me anything I don’t agree with” as if we can reduce God to customer satisfaction surveys. God doesn’t care what we think or even if we like God’s commands, God only cares that we live in the way of God. However, “no politics from the pulpit” can also mean “no partisanship from the pulpit.” We cannot support one party, issue, or whatever nor will I. Yet the cross is a political symbol, it is the way of executing enemies of the state. If Jesus died a religious death, we would have a pile of rocks up here, as stoning was the way of death for religious crimes.

I have been reading a book entitled “The Medina Congregational Church” written at our 90^th year by pastor J. Edward Kirbye. He wrote, “One of our ministers was introduced to President Theodore Roosevelt. Mr. Roosevelt asked what denomination he was a minister. On responding that he was a Congregationalists ministry, the President said, ‘Why, I have often thought that the Congregational Church was the most American of all the churches.’ The reason for this remark,” continues Rev. Kirbye. “is to be found in the fact of local self-government… They were the forerunners of democracy.”[1]

Congregationalists believe in the great conviction of the presence of God in life and personal accountability to God. We must cling to Christ as best we are able. You might be on the right leg, and I hanging from a wrist. Yet we must covenant together as we draw the world closer to God.

Politics is simply how we live together and love one another. Every single other. No matter the political party, the partisan ideology or lack thereof. No matter what. For in Christ there is no male or female, Jew or Greek, Slave or Free, Republican or Democrat, or any other label. We are all clinging to Christ as best we are able.

In our life together, let us seek a balance of autonomy and covenant. I’ve heard stories from my fellow pastors of congregants who were sick and told no one and yet are still mad at the pastor for not visiting. We wouldn’t do such a thing, would we? We must covenant to live together. We must talk about our individual walks and hear from those whose walk is very different from ours. Tell your story, warts and all! God is there! Others will hear it!

Talking and listening, autonomy and covenant. And in this, God is saying “Ascend!” And God is making all things new, drawing all people to Godself. This means we must occasionally talk about what’s going on in our world. We must name the powers and principalities that are out there, for that’s where the fight is, not against flesh and bone.

So we pray for those who are in the hospital. Those who are needing to be healed and who seek to heal. We pray for the fact that some people go broke because they get sick and we pray for some way that this problem can be solved. For God is saying “Ascend!”

We pray for our leaders: civic, nonprofit, business, and such like. We pray for freedom for all people and that we live into the strong ideals set forth in our Declaration of Independence. We pray for God’s help in bridging our partisan divide for we are a divided country. Yet God is saying “Ascend!”

We pray for those who will set off fireworks, that they do so safely. We pray that our first responders have an easy time and can rest for no one is burnt and nothing is burning. We pray for our veterans who hear these bangs and may relive some traumatic experiences. We pray these things because God is saying “Ascend!”

We pray for our country. What I feel is the greatest nation on earth. Yet other skies are just as blue, and other hearts have just as much love for their land. I pray that in our mutual love of our countries, we find ways to live in peace throughout the world. For God is saying “Ascend!”

I hate being vulnerable. It’s not something our culture teaches. We over-value autonomy. Then I recall Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” And I am grateful. I need church to help me learn how to be in covenant. So thank you. Thanks for teaching me a broader, more communal pattern. Thanks for transforming me. Thanks for renewing my mind. For God is saying to us all, “Ascend!”

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