Don't look up

Monday May 5th, Acts 1: 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." All too often we find ourselves standing there looking up also. As long as our eyes are heavenward, we can justify not using our hands and feet to do heavens bidding. Jesus will return, not in some sadistic fiery apocalypse, that is all made up stuff. But Jesus is there each and every day in the eyes of the neighbor being served. Looking up keeps us from looking in those eyes. Looking up helps us feel holy. The risen Christ calls us instead to look around and announce in word and deed that the Kingdom is near.