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There is an ancient apocryphal story about Jesus' arrival at the pearly gates following the ascension. The angel host was gathered to welcome God's Son and celebrate his return home after his incredible sojourn on earth. Everyone had questions and wanted to hear his story -- born of a virgin, raised in humble circumstances, years teaching, preaching, healing. Eventually, there was that gruesome torture and murder, but finally the conquest of humanity's most feared enemy -- death. All to share the good news of a loving God who wants nothing but the best for creation. Now the Christ is home, and everyone is exultant.

Someone asks, "Lord, now that you are no longer physically on earth, who will continue to share the good news?"

Christ responds, "There are eleven who were especially close to me, and I have given them the responsibility of getting the word out."

"O Lord, these eleven must be incredible people -- the best and the brightest that creation has to offer!"

"Well, actually no," the Lord responds. "These are average folks with ordinary abilities. Not the 'best and the brightest' by any means."

"But Lord, if these are only average people with ordinary ability, how can you be sure that they will get the job done?"

"Well, to be honest," the Lord answers, "I can't be sure."

"You cannot be sure, Lord? Well, what if they fail to do the job? What is your backup plan?"

Quietly, Christ answers, "I have no backup plan."

I wonder if those standing there on the Mount of Olives overlooking the holy city had any idea that there was no "backup plan." I suspect that they were not thinking much, period. After all, these past three years had been quite a ride. They had seen the teaching, preaching, and healing. They themselves had been in danger of the torture and murder. They had been witnesses of their Lord's conquest of death. These past days of close communion may well have given them the idea that things would resume where they had left off prior to the crucifixion. But such was not to be.

During the Passover Seder, prior to the Lord's arrest and trial, Jesus had said he would be moving on, but in that new scheme of things, they would be sustained by God's Holy Spirit. Now they have heard the same thing again -- instructions to wait in Jerusalem and, "In a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

Did they understand? As usual, not really. Thus the question, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" In other words, "Lord, what now?"

All right, Jesus. Tell us just a bit more. We have some questions. Jesus? Jesus? As the text says, "He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight." Hmm. It always seems to work that way, doesn't it? At the very moment we want Jesus to be most vivid, something obscures him. That is why, in some traditions, the Paschal candle that was lighted on Easter is extinguished on Ascension Day reflecting the fact that things will not be so obvious now.

Strange as it may seem, I take comfort in that. The life of faith does not lend itself to easy answers, despite what some of our friends at the extremes of the religious right and left might want us to believe. We go about our work with clouded vision, with things not always as clear as we might like ... just as the disciples did after Christ's ascension.

Perhaps the "clouded vision" is the reason for the controversy following 9/11 over whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God. According to a Harris Poll, a slender majority of Americans -- 53% -- believe that Jews, Christians, and Muslims all worship the same God, but 32% think they worship different gods. That is based on a nationwide sample of 2,300-plus adults. Who is right? The quick and dirty answer is both. Since both Christianity and Islam are monotheistic religions, to say that we worship different (or even competing) gods is a logical impossibility -- if there is only one God, there is only one God! Thus, we worship the same God.

On the other hand, to say we have the same understanding of that God is clearly not the case. The most obvious difference is that Christians believe we come to know God through Jesus Christ; Muslims disagree.

What makes the question more pressing is our understanding of how God expects us to behave. Christians cannot imagine a God who would approve of someone flying an airplane into an office building or blowing up a crowded bus or slashing an innocent human being's head off while shouting God is great! For that matter, neither can many Muslims.

Obviously, there is disagreement within Islam as to what God expects. But to be truthful, there is disagreement within Christianity as well. Thus we have continuing controversies in the church over human sexuality, abortion, capital punishment, the role of women, and so on. We continue to deal with the same "clouded vision" as those gathered there on the Mount of Olives so long ago.

What a group! Standing there, staring into space, paralyzed like deer mesmerized by oncoming headlights. These eleven were the A-team. It was to them that the Lord entrusted his mission. There was no backup plan. But, as Will Rogers once said, "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just stand there."

Yo! "Men of Galilee. Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." He'll be back! Meanwhile, you have his work to do.