"So when they had come together, they asked him, 'Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?' 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.'
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers." (Acts 1:6-14 NRSV)
Convinced that we can do it all ourselves, and that we have to do all the heavy lifting, we forget that gathering to wait and to pray "are depicted as two primary activities of a faithful church." (Willimon, William. "Acts." p. 21).
Sermon writing is an interesting discipline. You get your manuscript or outline wrapped up, and then there is this gap filled with wondering and not a little anxiety. What will happen in the pulpit when the Holy Spirit is present as the Word read and proclaimed on Sunday? This gap is the divine tension that imbues preaching with its joy-filled trepidation.
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