Usually we move through this passage fairly quickly—ready to get on to chapter two and the excitement of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit:

• Flames of fire
• Speaking in tongues
• Preaching of Peter
• Birth of the church

Or we get hung-up on the Ascension—the aerodynamics of this mystical, mysterious lift-off of the Risen Jesus into heaven. 

Or we focus on the promise of the Second Coming and all that might mean.

But at the beginning of this series of sermons which is meant to lead us into conversation about the nature and mission of the church today, I want to lift up this simple question, asked by some strange messengers in white robes: "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?" 

Or, as the Eugene Peterson translation asks it: "You Galileans! Why do you just stand…