The Rev. Dr. Brandon Perrine
Easter 7A
Acts 1:6-12
May 17, 2026
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that have set by God’s own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, 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.” Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.
~o~
Larry Walters had always wanted to fly. Unable to become a pilot because of his poor eyesight, Larry served in Vietnam as a cook. The dream didn’t die, though, after he was discharged. For years, he continued to dream of flying. In 1982, he knew it was time to try. With 42 weather balloons strapped to an ordinary lawn chair, Larry boarded the “aircraft” with a pellet gun and a pack of beer. He intended to fly over the Mojave desert at just a few hundred feet and then use the pellet gun to burst a few balloons and descend to safety. When his tiny craft reached 16,000 feet, he was spotted by two commercial airliners. After about 45 minutes, Larry managed to shoot a few of the balloons before accidentally dropping the pellet gun overboard. He slowly descended until the balloons became caught in some power lines, which eventually broke, and he touched down safely back on the ground. He was initially fined $4,000. Of the experience he said, “It was something I had to do. I had this dream for twenty years, and if I hadn’t done it, I think I would have ended up in the funny farm . . . But I wouldn’t do this again for anything.”
Lawn Chair Larry’s story seems like an appropriate way to begin a sermon on Ascension Sunday—not just because it’s a real-life ascension story, but because there’s something deeply human about it: about wanting to rise above things for a while, about wanting perspective, about wanting escape, about wanting to believe there’s something more than what’s right in front of us. Honestly, I suspect the disciples might have understood the feeling. The story of the Ascension is Luke’s attempt to answer those very questions. In fact, it was so important that he actually told the story twice—once at the end of his gospel and once here at the beginning of Acts—and the details don’t completely line up. In one version, the Ascension seems to happen on Easter evening. In the other, forty days later. The dialogue changes. The setting shifts a bit. One story includes angels. All of which makes me think Luke isn’t especially concerned with giving us a play-by-play historical account. Instead, he’s telling two symbolic stories that do two different things.
One closes Jesus’ earthly ministry. The other launches the ministry of the church.
Whether these stories function as literal history in the modern sense matters less than what they reveal about the experience of the early church—they gave shape to something the early church genuinely experienced: that Jesus was still present with them somehow. Present enough that they kept preaching, healing, feeding, organizing, and risking their lives for his vision of God’s reign. And I think the crux of the whole Ascension story from Acts is this line…
The disciples asked: “is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”
It’s not really a strange question. They’ve seen crucifixion. They’ve experienced loss and fear and confusion. They’re living under occupation. They want to know if things are finally going to change. Frankly, it’s not all that different from the kinds of questions people still ask now. Is this the time things finally get better? Is this the time justice comes? Is this the time the world starts making sense again? So I’m going to assume that Jesus’ response was about as satisfying for the disciples as it is for us.
Jesus replied: “It is not for you to know…”
The disciples ask if this is finally the time when Jesus is going to do what they’d expected him to do all along. And Jesus responds that they are asking the wrong question. Because the question isn’t when God will act. The question is whether we will.
After Jesus ascends, the angels ask the disciples: “Why do you stand looking up toward heaven?” In other words: “What are you waiting for?” There is work to do. It’s time to feed people. Time to heal people. Time to forgive people. Time to organize. Time to resist cruelty. Time to tell the truth. Time to build communities shaped more by love than fear. Time to become witnesses. Time to take Jesus’ vision of the kingdom of God beyond Jerusalem, beyond Judea, beyond Samaria, and toward the ends of the earth.
It’s still that time. It will always be that time.
That’s why the church exists. To be those witnesses—preaching, teaching, healing, feeding, ministering—until it is finally on earth as it is in heaven. It’s a heck of a commitment. That’s why we have each other. Jesus had the disciples. And the disciples planted churches. Because this work has always been too much for one person to do alone.
And could there be a more fitting message for Welcome Sunday? Today we receive new members into the effort and the excitement, the work and the worship, the love and the labor of being the church in this time and place.
May we continue to be Christ’s witnesses in Aurora, in Illinois, in these United States, and in the world. And may we remember that the Spirit of Christ is still in us and among us, to the ends of the earth.
Amen.
