"Only Tourists Look Up in New York City"

 Acts 1:1-11

He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his 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."

This week is the beginning of our annual Summer Sermon Series. In previous summers we have talked about blockbuster movies, nostalgic toys, camping and other fun stuff that reminds us of summer. This year, we will focus on that rite of summer, the "SUMMER VACATION."  What do we learn from our travels? About ourselves? About other people? About the ways different cultures view the world? About the way your mode of operation is forced to change if you are in an unknown place that operates differently than you do?

After all, that is where the disciples and early apostles of Christ find themselves in the days after his resurrection and just before and immediately after his ascension. They find themselves in a radically different landscape. Maybe THEY haven't actually gone to a new place geographically, but their worldview has been forced to change.  And now, with the pronouncement from Jesus, the Christ, that they are to "be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth," they DO find themselves in the position of having to navigate this early evangelism thing in new cultures and places and to people who are unlike them.

"Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?" A question reminiscent of the phrase Jesus utters in the Easter passage when he says to Mary, "Don't hold on to me." The men in white robes are suggesting that they cannot look to a physical Jesus anymore to guide them. That they need to find the inner Jesus, the Holy Spirit's beckoning, to carry them to another way of seeing things.

I have heard countless jokes, seen videos and read many travel guides that suggest that New Yorkers can always tell who the tourists are because they are always looking up. The ones who don't live and work in the city day to day are awed by the magnificent skyline and the amazing skyscrapers.  That tourists can't help but look up while those who live there never do.  My son Jake says he never looks up anymore in NYC after spending a school year there. And that he, too, gets frustrated by the mobs of people who DO stand around clogging up the sidewalks looking up all the time.  Only tourists look up in New York City.  

I have always struggled with the idea of blending in on a trip and not looking like a tourist. Because, after all, I AM a tourist. Why do I need to look like a New Yorker while I'm there when I'm a Coloradan?  Why does a New Yorker need to look like a Coloradan while visiting this fine state?  But I guess the point is it is just easier for you if you will attempt to assimilate a bit into the culture so that you can absorb more of the local culture rather than creating distractions for yourself.

In the context of the scripture this week , it is a concept in letting go of your own view of the world. The men in white are urging the disciples to not look heavenward toward that Jesus, the Christ, who just ascended. 

Don't look up.  Because if they only look up, they will miss everything that's going on around them. The will miss the opportunities to minister to those in their own worldview.  

Don't look up. Because if they only look up, they are relying and depending on what WAS... the time when Jesus led them, rather than what IS.. the present time in which Jesus inspires them through the Holy Spirit's work in their lives.

Don't look up. Because if they only look up, they will look lost and detached and a little more like people who are disconnected from the world around them, in town like tourists only for a short while, rather than in town to connect to the people who Christ called them to reach.

Do you have times when you have tried to 'fit in with the locals' on summer vacation trips?  Or do you just embrace the tourist role instead? What are the pros and cons to both of these approaches? Email me or comment below.  Happy SUMMER!