One of the traditions of the church is to take the final Sunday of the season of Easter as the day to mark and celebrate Christ’s Ascension into heaven. That has been my tradition these past many years that I have been here as your pastor. Now, we as a congregation have already marked Ascension Day in our joint worship on Thursday with our United Methodist brothers and sisters. Even still, I would like to revisit some of those ideas both for the benefit of those of you who could not be with us that night and for those who were here. I want us to explore further what Ascension is really about.

The important piece of that story is not Jesus’ Superman imitation where he flies up into the clouds to go back to heaven. It’s what he says to the disciples before he ascends. Now, not every one of the four gospels records the Ascension story per se, but nearly all of them have some version of what Jesus tells his disciples on that day. Luke, who records the Ascension diligently in both his Gospel and the book of Acts, tells us that Christ commends the disciples to be witnesses to Christ and to the Gospel, beginning in Jerusalem and then expanding into all the world. Matthew runs with this universal idea also in what we know as the Great Commission, “Go ye therefore…” John takes a somewhat different tact, our Gospel lesson today is his version of Jesus’ instruction, found within what is known as the High Priestly Prayer. It is a prayer for unity for the disciples, a unity of purpose, a unity that will draw people to the Gospel and faith in Jesus Christ.

Simply put, what Jesus does on Ascension Day is give the disciples a job. They are given Jesus’ job, the job of ministry, heal the sick, tend the poor, embrace the outcast, tell the good news in word and deed. That’s what they’re being told to do.

Now let me ask you all something. How many of you, in the course of your work, have ever been in a position of some authority? You had employees under you, you were in charge or at least had influence over, hiring and firing of others. How many of you were ever someone’s boss?

Ok, good. For those of you haven’t been, join in. Let your imaginations take to that place, and let’s all imagine that we’re a manager, a boss, for some company, and we have a job, a task, something that needs done, and we want to hire someone to do it. So what then is the first step.

Ok, you post the job, you take applications, resumes, you do interviews, etc. Now imagine a potential employee in front of you. How do you decide if he or she is the one for the job? Well, you look at their qualifications. Do they have a degree in this field or a diploma from an appropriate trade school? Do they have experience doing this job with another company or something similar? What do they look like? How do they handle themselves? Do they act professionally, interview well, or in some other way put you at ease about how competently and efficiently they will do the job? A good boss would have to consider many if not all of these factors in making a decision about hiring them, right?

Alright, next step. You’ve hired this person. Now what? Do you simply tell them “Go and do?” You might, depending upon the job, but odds are good you’re going to need to prep them a bit more than that. There are always nuances to any job, details that one can only learn once they’re hired and doing work for a particular company. If there’s equipment for the job, then this new employee will likely have to be trained to use it properly and safely.

If there’s a procedure your company uses, then our new employee will have to be taught what that is. You may know how to make a hamburger, but if you’re ever hired at MacDonald’s, you going to have to learn how make a hamburger the MacDonald’s way on MacDonald’s equipment.

In many ways, this very process is precisely what we see happening to the disciples. Jesus is leaving this earth to return to heaven and he comes before the disciples and essentially says to them “You’re hired!” Now, like any good boss, he has come to this decision based upon each and every disciples’ qualifications. Jesus Christ knows them better than they know themselves. He knows their experiences, their skills, their interests, their passions, and perhaps most importantly, their potential. And he has determined from this great resume of each one of them that he knows so well that they are perfectly suited for the job at hand.

But, very much like a good boss, supportive and helpful to his or her employees, Jesus does not simply leave it at that. There is no “go and do” here. They need to be prepared for those nuances, those details, and to that end Christ calls upon the trainer, the coach, the human resources person. This is the Holy Spirit, which he promises upon the disciples to guide and aid them in the task that have been laid before him. The story of his arrival is next Sunday, the festival of Pentecost, but we have already heard Jesus promise his disciples that the Spirit is coming. That all that they need for the tasks ahead of them, the Spirit will provide.

What was true for that gathered handful on that first Ascension Day is true to today for all the masses of the church. Ministry and mission are not limited only to those people who have the abbreviation “St.” before their name (or “Rev.” for that matter.) Ministry is the calling of every Christian. We have been hired to heal the sick, tend the poor, embrace the outcast, and tell the good news. And this we can do, every day, in all that we do with whoever we encounter. We do this whenever we seek to serve others and proclaim Christ, in our jobs, in our schools, with our families, our friends, our coworkers, and classmates.

We’ve been hired. We’ve been hired because Christ has determined that we are perfectly qualified to do what he has set before us. Our unique combination of interests, skills, passions, experience, and whatever else that makes us who we are also qualifies us to do what Christ has called us to do. What those tasks may be is for you to determine for yourselves, in prayer and reflection, but do not doubt that Jesus knows what he’s doing in hiring you.

And also like those disciples so long ago, we are not simply left hanging with a job we have no idea how to do. It is not just simply “go and do.” The Spirit comes, guides us, prods us, informs us through our conscience, through the voice of others, in whatever way we need, giving us whatever tools and training we might require to do what Christ has called us to do. The boss does not leave us high and dry. He is ever with us, giving us whatever we need to fulfill our calling.

We’ve been hired. Now there’s work to be done. Amen.