the blog
Airport Christians
by kristen
May 18, 2010 | Faith, Life | 2 responses
Have you ever lived in an airport?
No? I could have guessed that. Me neither. I’d never thought of Christians as living in an airport—until yesterday, when I heard my new pastor friend guest preach at my church. She referred to “airport Christians” as a peripheral point to her thought-provoking sermon on the Ascension (side note: she’s right on this too—why don’t churches talk more about Christ’s ascension after his resurrection?!).
Her peripheral point has become a central thought for me over the past couple days.
How often we live as airport Christians, stuck in the terminal of life while we wait for our flight to eternity to take off; life on earth becomes something we merely endure and suffer through until we “fly away.”
Think about your last experience at an airport. Did you engage with anyone you didn’t already know? Or, like me, did you stare at empty space ahead while you waited in the never-ending Starbucks line at Terminal B? Did you accidentally meet the glance of the person sitting across from you at Gate 38 then quickly look back down at your book club book of the month? Yeah, so did I.
Now, imagine for just a moment that you’re one of Jesus’s first disciples: after spending days, weeks, months with Christ, the man you think will save you is instead crucified. He then is resurrected and appears to you, only to leave you once again, this time to ascend to heaven.
What if the disciples had lived as airport Christians?
What if they had spent the rest of their lives gathering together only to mourn the loss of their teacher, their Rabbi, never inviting anyone else to journey along with them?
What if, rather than looking forward, they’d looked only up, waiting for Jesus to return and take them with him?
What if the story had ended there?
photo credit: everystockphoto.com
great post kristen. here in Amish country we are always reminded of Ascension day – it is one of the Amish churches main holidays, and they have huge gatherings with their friends and family. it's unusual to see them out in large numbers during the week (especially in the spring, when their farms keep them so busy), so this time of year when i see large contingents of them driving their buggies, or hanging out together, it reminds me to celebrate the Ascension along with them.
Ascension can be confusing. If he went up from Israel, it means he went down from the other side of the globe. And where was the Earth in rotation at that moment?
At the same time, I've been to the chapel built where they believe Jesus' foot last touched earth. It's cemented/preserved, so you can see it and stuff. Kinda neat.
And yes….the Church had been lulled to a sort of "slumber" by the rapture watchers. But we are waking, thankfully…:)