Your Best Day Ever

 

2026-05-17 Your Best Day Ever

John 17:1-11

17 After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all people,[a] to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. 5 So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

6 “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, 8 for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I have been glorified in them. 11 And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

Acts 1:6-14

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 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.” 9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 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.”

12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 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[a] James. 14 All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.

—

Your Best Day Ever

I want you to do something for me. 

Close your eyes and picture the best day of your life. 

Eyes closed. 

OK. Got it? 

Picturing that day?

Now open your eyes.

Wild guess. 

But I’ll bet not many of you were picturing being in church, in the gym, right now, today. 

I mean, if this IS the happiest day of your life, good for you. 

Carpe that diem, y’all.

For the rest of us, the best day of our life is one that’s come and gone. 

That’s the problem. 

Because those are precious days we wish we could hold onto. 

Really seize them, squeeze them, reprise them.

Be back in them.

The day the disciples saw Jesus ascend into heaven was one of those days.

They wanted to hold onto Jesus. 

But the angels told them, “No.” 

You can’t do that.

But – they said – hold on. 

Hang on.

Because coming soon, you will have another best day ever. 

“This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

That’ll be a good day. The best.

When is YOUR next best day ever?

And how will you know that it is?

—

One of our daughters

when she was about 3 years old, was having a very good day. 

She spread her arms wide and exclaimed:

“This is the best day of my whole life!”

And when you’re three, you may be right.

Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.”

It’s easier to count them when you don’t have that many.

Maybe she learned the Psalm from her father, the pastor.

Or, maybe she learned it from Spongebob Squarepants. 

He’s always declaring:  

“This is the Best Day Ever!”

Spongebob is such an annoying little saint.

—

In Acts chapter 1, that we read, the disciples are wanting to literally count the days. 

They’re chomping at the bit for THE best day ever – EVER.

It says, 

…they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 

“Should we start the countdown?”

And in typical Jesus fashion he says 

Yes… and… No.

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

I take that to mean 

They – you – WE – simply can’t know which one is our best day ever. 

It’s beyond us.

It’s like the old joke: 

Say, “Hey Old Man: Have you lived here all your life?” 

and he says, “Not yet.”

Another day’s a-coming. 

And it might just be the best one.

—

Every high school senior counts the days to graduation. 

In their mind, graduation day will truly be The Best Day Ever.

They’re so looking forward to escaping the prison of the classroom, of being free. 

Sure, kid. 

That’s exactly how it works. 

Shhh. 

Let them enjoy the illusion while they’re still on their parents’ health insurance.

I imagine more than one of you, when you were remembering the best day of your life, recalled a graduation. 

Your high school graduation, trade school, GED. 

Flight training. 

Culinary. 

Grad school. 

Your second grad school. 

Getting your Uber license. 

All best days. 

Trinity’s Preschool graduation is this Thursday. 

When you closed your eyes

if you remembered YOUR preschool graduation – 

I hope you’re very young. 

John 17, is kind of like Jesus’s Baccalaureate speech to his disciples. 

Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

They’re graduating. 

He’s sending them out into the world, praying for their protection and success.

School’s out.

Jesus ascends to heaven. 

And now these disciples are really, truly on their own.

And it’s a great day. 

And a scary one, too.

—

Anyone who’s graduated from anything knows 

You’re just getting started. 

For pastors graduating seminary, like Ryan Obray this weekend, 

the REAL education starts the day you walk in the church doors. 

When you lead your first youth trip to Orlando. 

When you do your first Children’s Sermon or moderate your first Session meeting – 

not that there’s a big difference.

My first true-life teacher in ministry, my mentor, my friend and colleague, the Reverend Doctor Joe Johnson, was the kind soul who gave me my first job when I graduated seminary: 

Associate Pastor of Evergreen Presbyterian Church in Dothan, Alabama, 

57 short years ago.

Seems like yesterday.

Last year, Joe ascended to heaven with Jesus.

And I miss him.

Joe loved this passage.

He thought it was funny.

Because it was so uncomfortably true.

Those grad school disciples had no idea what was about to hit them that day.

They flip their tassels. 

They take off their mortarboards and toss them into the air. 

And then Jesus follows their square hats right up – and keeps on going up – up to heaven. 

THAT wasn’t in the bulletin.

Full stop. 

The disciples stare. 

Mouths gaping. 

Going, “Whaaaaaat?”

And there he goes. 

And goes. 

Like when your child accidentally lets go of her balloon, and it rises beyond the clouds.

“I’m sorry, honey. We can’t get Bluey back. She’s gone.” 

There’s not much sadder than a child’s balloon slipping away. 

Whenever you see a balloon floating in the sky, you know somewhere there’s a child wiping tears away, saying, “Come back! Come back!” 

A best day turns into a saddest.

Joe loved this passage. 

Because the way he saw it, the disciples are like little children barely out of preschool. 

The disciples are so consumed that they completely miss the angels – 

Angels – standing right beside them 

arms folded, fingers tapping, going, “Ahem?”

“[Silly – implied – childish] 

Men of Galilee – 

why do you stand looking up toward heaven?”

The Apostles, these blessed saints (bless their hearts) were so busy trying to solve the engineering problem – 

how to jump up and attach the hooks that would pull Jesus back down to earth 

that they totally missed the living, sandals-on-the-ground soldiers of the cross ANGELS right beside them.

Joe thought this was hilarious. 

Probably because he knew firsthand how clueless we all can be. 

Not just men. 

Although several of us guys do share the patent. 

Joe laughed – laughed at himself, laughed at all of us. 

He knew religious people can be so clueless, so 

self-absorbed that we miss the best days ever.

The angels tell the disciples:

This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Some people read this as talking about the Second Coming when Jesus comes back to restore the kingdom.

Maybe so.

I read it not as the Second Coming, but as the Third coming. 

The fourth, the fifth, 

and the fifty-thousandth coming

That might just happen today.

We can be so busy trying to promote ourselves up into heaven – 

that we get caught totally by surprise when his angels appear beside us, 

and we’re just big-old clueless goofballs.

–

Acts 1, right after the angels teach their lesson, verse 12 takes a sharp turn. 

Instead of talking anymore about the Ascension of Jesus,

Instead of explaining it,

it starts listing off the disciples. 

All of them. 

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. together with [the] women [in their little church], including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.

Why call the roll now? 

I mean, don’t you usually do that when class is STARTING?

Maybe it is. Starting that day.

—

Earlier, after you were remembering your best day ever, you opened your eyes. 

You opened your eyes and you saw where you were. 

You opened your eyes and you saw the people sitting in front of you. 

You awakened to the people beside you. 

You woke up to a vision of – I don’t know – angels? 

Around you? 

The Book of Acts names a whole bunch of people who might, just might be angels as well as disciples. 

Why would we EVER think the list is exhaustive?

Open your eyes. Look around. 

Look there. Count them.

There’s Ford.

There’s Nathan.

There’s Veronica.

There’s Zach.

There’s Abby.

There’s Ryan, graduating from seminary this weekend.

The Bible flat out names the living saints and angels alike.

It’s a roll call.

Open your eyes.

Look around. 

Remember around.

See any angels among us?

There’s Jean and John.

And Craig and Connie.

And Sylvia and Frank.

And Sandy and Hugh.

Jim and Ann.

John and Anne (with an E).

Sharon and Bill.

Britt and Todd.

Stephanie and Scott.

Greg and NellAnn.

Our other Associate Pastor, Wendy. And David.

Just to name a few.

And all those brave, brave women walking alone 

All those brave, brave men 

whose earthly angels have gone up to Jesus. 

Speak the angels' names.

Speak YOUR angels’ names.

Speak them out loud.

Go ahead if you want to.

Because they are here.

As sure as YOU are still here.

They have not graduated and left home.

They are not gone. 

And neither are you.

And you, you graduates, whether you’re moving across country or moving one foot in front of the other,

Never, never – never ever – be afraid, 

never be ashamed –

Never hesitate for one half of one second 

To speak your own name, to speak it loud, 

to speak your own name with pride, with rage, with joy, with love –

Even if nobody else is calling it,

Speak it loud. 

because it’s not just your voice, 

it’s your parents, your grandparents, your great-grandparents, 

your teachers, your coaches, your neighbors, 

your church – 

All of them – all of us – are speaking your name with you, speaking for you, 

It’s like a wave.

Ride that wave, 

Ride that wave that brought you here, to this day,

That wave that will carry you where you’re headed next. 

But then…

when the world’s waves overcome you, and they will,

call out your name – call your names, 

Call the names that are your wave.

Call on their spirit,

Call out for them to lift you up

To breathe again.

To see the light again.

For they are there.

And they will answer you.

Because you’re still here.

—

The Good News of the Bible is still being written, rewritten in jaw-dropping ways that lift up Jesus on our worst days 

AND on our 

Best. 

Days. 

Ever. 

All of you –

Right here, online, at home, 

Deployed, employed and living elsewhere, 

Recovering in a hospital,

Searching for a home…

Hold on.

Hold on to THIS very special, one-of-a-kind day,

Even if it seems Jesus is out of sight

Maybe this isn’t your best day,

But it’s A day. Your day.

And when we open the eyes of our heart, 

And see the angels, who knows? 

This really could be

THE best day ever.

[eos]

Lord, we pray for the men and women, for the boys and girls who are graduating from school. We pray for all of us who are graduating from the school of yesterday. Help us walk across the stage of life and accept your gift of this day being handed to us. 

Help us remember to see our angels. To feel them living in our hearts, and as our hearts. May this be the time they return. May this be the time we turn, the day we turn into the best that it can be. 

In the name of the risen Jesus.

Amen.