The season of Easter is a puzzlement to most church people. The decorations are gone – the leftovers too – and we have come through a strange period of liturgical waiting. Many clergy (including yours truly) often arrange some vacation time during this month or so of post-resurrection bliss. It is hard to manage the emotions and expectations of Lent, Holy Week and the biggest Sunday of the year without a bit of a break. So, it won’t surprise you to learn that I have rarely found a way to preach through Easter to Pentecost in a way that makes sense of the story.

For all that there are forty days’ worth of encounters with the Risen Jesus, Scripture is thin on the details.

There is doubting Thomas, some broiled fish on the beach, and the vague assurance that “he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs…[while] speaking about the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3)

There are not five Sunday’s worth of stories. Too much is left to our collective imagination – until today.

The time has come to take the training wheels off. Jesus is returning to God. The disciples are going to have to figure it out. So, what’s next?

There are some important clues that the author gives us. The opening paragraphs of this ‘sequel to Luke’ remind us that this is a continuing story – told to help us understand that God is at work in the world in a very particular way.

The biggest challenge for the disciples (and for us) is timing. We have had an experience of something wonderful. From Christmas through to Easter, we have encountered Jesus at his very best. The Gospels have shared promises of redemption and revealed the defeat of death. It has been a wild and wonderful ride, and we (and the disciples) are ready for what we imagine to be the final act.

The disciples ask – straight up – is this when it happens? Will the kingdom be restored to Israel?

Jesus has been talking kingdom talk, after all. Doesn’t that mean that the good guys get to take over? That the ‘chosen people finally achieve their long-coveted place of superiority?

Jesus’ response is barely an answer to their question, but it matters.

“It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority…”

This sounds like disappointment, but it is actually liberating.

The timing is not our concern because it is not our kingdom. Our job is not to rule, but to remember and rejoice in the knowledge that God is in control.

Elsewhere we find our instructions: Go make disciples. Go love one another. Go and feed the hungry and lift up the oppressed and clothe the naked and make the broken whole. Go BE in the world – go and BE God’s people. Go and BE disciples…and watch what God will do with you and through you.

So that’s the lesson - “be my witnesses…” Jesus says - and wait for the Spirit’s power…and the disciples, certain women, and Jesus’ mother return to their borrowed room, and wait.

And in this perilous, plodding, in-between time, we wait too. The build up between Christmas and Easter is supposed to have us ready for anything: for change. For glory. For evidence that God is doing a new thing…can you see it? Is it now? Was that it? What now? What’s next?

People sometimes argue (and I often agree) that religion - especially the Christian religion - has created an arrogant complacency in those who practice the faith.

The rules are clear and the boundary lines are drawn in such a way that, if you are ‘on the inside’ you are safe and need not worry. If you are on the fence (or outside it) your goose is probably cooked.

That attitude has created a Christianity that is driven by the future promise of heavenly, eternal life - choirs of angels, the pearly gates and all that stuff.

The problem is - that doesn’t seem to be where Jesus is leading us.

Jesus ‘talks of the kingdom’ and calls for witnesses - in the here and now.

Go back to town and wait, he tells his friends - it is about to happen…

And we are among those who wait for what is about to happen - and for what has already happened…and is happening even now. The miraculous promises of Christ continue to be revealed. The work of the Spirit - shrouded in mystery - continues. So, what now? How do we know? How can we be a part of it?

The disciples return to their borrowed room to wait as Jesus instructed. Next week we will celebrate what happened next for them, but what’s next for us?

We are confounded by our own beliefs. We’ve been taught the basics of the faith. Our understanding is built in straight lines from discovery to understanding to the ultimate reward - eternal life.  - We have created a comfortable place to wait, assured that our faith will bring us the answers - and provide us with our reward.  It is easier to wait in the safety of belief that is is to live faithfully in a world gone mad. But in this ‘in between time’ Jesus’ sudden return to heaven invites us to confront the question: What now?

Wait for the Spirit? Maybe the Spirit is waiting for us.

Wait for Jesus to return and lead the charge? Wherever two or three are gathered in (his) name, Jesus is already present.

Our waiting is over. What is the next faithful step?