Jesus’ example can teach us how to let God work through us. Jesus followed God from Day One–he refused to give in to temptation in the wilderness–he refused to take the offer to be rich, to be powerful. And he didn’t stop following God when it became uncomfortable or unpopular or inconvenient. From the beginning Jesus gave himself totally to God. God was able to work through Jesus because he allowed himself to be open to God’s word and guidance and he was willing to be humble enough to do what God asked.

 We can’t decide when and how God comes to us, we only have to decide whether to listen and accept. I’m sure Moses thought God was out of Her mind when she came to him and told him to go down to Pharoah and tell him to let my people go. I can imagine Moses saying  “God, I’m an old man. It’s time for me to enjoy my retirement, play with the grandkids, kick back. Go out in that desert? I don’t even have directions to this Promised Land.” But Moses listened. We wouldn’t even be here  in this church building today in this multicultural experiment had not Martin Luther King Jr. and countless men and women of all faiths and colors listened when God called for them to lay their lives on the line and fight for justice for all people.

 When we listen we hear God calling us to change the world we live in. We hear God saying the world we live in is in need of a spiritual transformation. Friday night I was watching television and in less than 15 minutes I saw more gadgets and products advertised than we could ever need. And the way they describe this stuff sounds more like they’re trying to convert you than sell you something. For instance, there was an ad for a SUV that “gives you more power and peace of mind,” a hardware sale that ends with the phrase “let’s build something together,” a new revolutionary makeup that makes you look like yourself, only better; and a pet supply store that says “everybody takes more if they can get it.” Then Saturday I was in Columbia Mall where their new slogan is “Defining Yourself”, obviously by the stuff you buy.        

All these things, all this stuff we have is far more than any of us could ever need or use in our lifetime, especially when there are people starving and dying in wars. But while we make all this stuff for us to consume, we also make weapons  to protect our stuff. General Electric, the folks who bring good things to life, make neutron generators for nuclear bombs. Boeing, the people who make the planes we are free to fly about the country in on Southwest Airlines also make the jet fighters that fly about Iraq bombing villages and towns. Jim Wallis in his book The Call to Conversion says the logic of all this is clear: “Our affluence must be protected if we are to control the lion’s share of the world’s resources and leave a billion people hungry. We cannot create an economy based on overconsumption without creating the weapons necessary to keep the poor masses at bay.”

 What all these commercials are doing is nothing less than trying to convert us. With very sophisticated techniques Madison Avenue and its clients are trying to convert us to the idea that we can keep wanting and getting more without worrying about the consequences of what we do have on the Earth.  And when someone challenges our right to keep so much for ourselves, we brand them as criminals or traitors and get rid of them.

 To this selfish, violent world, Jesus delivers a simple, powerful message: “I have conquered the world.”

This is Ascension Sunday and Memorial Day weekend when we celebrate the day that Jesus left this Earth to return to God and we remember those who died in service to their country. But for me these days are not about those who left us, but it’s about those of us who are left behind. When Jesus asks God to protect those he loves, he is asking God to empower them and us with the same Spirit that empowered him. This Sunday is about our spiritual transformation. The disciples Jesus is praying for started out as ordinary men–fishermen, tax collectors–not CEOs or ministers or doctors and lawyers–ordinary people that God empowered to transform the world.

 Jesus’ disciples transformed the world because they first experienced life with Jesus. They watched and helped as Jesus healed people who had all but given up on their lives. Jesus healed not only their bodies but he healed their spirits too. Jesus loved them and his love awakened their love. He loved the prostitutes and the unclean lepers. He loved the prodigal sons and all the filthy, low-life Samaritans. Jesus loved all the ones that nobody else wants, or respects, or values because he saw them differently from how others saw them and how they saw themselves. His  hand came into their world - and it touches them even now. They had a spiritual awakening and they knew who they were and they were not who they thought they were. They changed inside - and everything in their world looked different.

 The world we live in is in deep need of a spiritual awakening. Jesus tells us to heal the sick, feed the hungry, lift up the poor. But you say ‘I can’t heal the sick like Jesus. He touched them and they were whole.’ No, maybe not just like Jesus. But there are millions of people who are sick in many different ways and you can heal them. All it takes is a new commitment to God and God’s values, not the world’s.

  You can help those whose bodies and minds are sick by making sure they get treatment–volunteer at a hospital to relieve the stress on nurses who do most of the healing, fight for insurance coverage for everyone who needs it, open a free clinic in the church basement, pay for somebody to go to the doctor. You can heal the sick. Jesus says feed the hungry. But you say ‘I can’t take a few loaves and a few fish and feed thousands like Jesus did.’ No, maybe not. But you can make sure that everyone you know is fed. You can demand that our elected government feed the world’s starving people instead of killing them in wars that only result in more hunger and death. You can feed the beggar on the street. You can volunteer at a soup kitchen. You can feed the hungry. 

 You can do this because God gives you a new attitude. Or as that great theologian Patti LaBelle explains it:

“I’m feelin’ good from my head to my shoesKnow where I’m goin’ and I know what to doI tidied up my point of viewLike a dreamSomehow the wires uncrossed, the tables were turnedNever knew I had such a lesson to learnI'm feelin’ good from my head to my shoesKnow where I'm goin' and I know what to doI tidied up my point of viewI got a new attitudeI’m in control, my worries are few‘Cause I've got love like I never knew.

But be sure that when you challenge that notion that there are some people who deserve to live their lives in joy and peace and prosperity and some who don’t, then you threaten the very foundations of the world we live in. And the world doesn’t take too kindly to that. The world wants your soul. It wants you to believe that you are different, better somehow than others. And if you’re not convinced, we’ll sell you some new product–a face cream, a new drug, a new car that will truly make you a better person than the people who don’t have it.

 And it is that corrupted, selfish view of the world that has us in such trouble. If we think we are better than others, then we can justify making war on them. We can justify letting them starve. After all, we’re better than they are.  

 Jesus says the antidote  is to look up, look in and look out. Look up to God and listen when He tells you that the life of Jesus is a perfect example of what God is like– a healing force that changes lives through love. Look inside and let that love of God change you, give you a new attitude. Then look outside yourself to spread that love to others. Love is contagious. It can spread like a virus for which there is no cure. You can’t love someone and not want what’s best for them. Just as God loves you and wants the best for you, God wants the best for all His children. And each one of us, even the beggar, the prostitute, the drug addict, the guy who cuts you off in traffic, the neighbor whose dog won’t shut up barking at 2:00 in the morning, the Iraqi soldier, we are all brothers and sisters. That’s one of the secrets that Jesus unlocks in our soul. Once you let love come into your heart, you can’t help yourself. You’re going to love again and again.