I was thinking before the service that this might be the most
ironic service I have ever had to lead. That is, of course, saying
something given our recent experiences of celebrating Holy Week and Easter
on-line rather than in community. But, today we celebrate the Feast of
the Ascension. In a real sense, our focus begins a significant shift this
day. Since the Feast of the Incarnation, we have been celebrating
Christ’s redeeming work among us. We have considered His manifestation to
the Gentile world. We have spent some time considering the sins from
which He has rescued us. We have wrestled with His Passion and His
death. We have celebrated His Resurrection and spent time discussing its
meaning for and to us.
Today, though, we begin to shift
our focus. Thematically and liturgically we move from the idea of Jesus
being present among us as the Incarnation and to the new way in which He will
be present among us. Of course, the Sacrament is one of those ways.
Part of our shift in focus will remind us that Jesus is present with us in the
Sacrament and Rites of the church. As good little Anglicans we will
remind ourselves that we might meet Jesus in the Word, read and preached and
taught, and we might meet Him in the mystery of the Sacrament. I see by
your faces on my screen that you understand the irony. On this day when
we remember that Christ ascended to be with the Father, when we remind ourselves
that He took our humanity to the Godhead, that when we remind ourselves His
leaving made it possible for Him to send the Holy Spirit among us, that His
locus would not be the sole focus of God’s work and kingdom in the world around
us, we do not get to celebrate the Eucharist. None of us has a chance
tonight to meet Him in the Sacrament. For good or for ill, we are
dependent upon meeting Him in His Word.
That consideration, of course,
reinforced the bishop’s word to the clergy yesterday. During the course
of Bishop John’s teaching, he reminded us of our need to mourn and lament the
events in the world. None of us on that call are doing much of that for
which we trained. In some parishes, individuals are struggling to survive
and even dying alone. We clergy are prevented from reminding them of
God’s promises and the comfort those last rites can give. In some
parishes, even gatherings like this are impossible. So there has been
different feelings of abandonment, of isolation, and of futility. Most of
us have had to deal with Comcast, that wholly owned subsidiary of Satan, which
seems to stop working at the most inopportune times, causing moments and
exclaimed words of frustration.
It’s ok to laugh even in the
midst of mourning and lamenting. Sometimes, that’s all we can do.
Most of us miss the social aspects of church. We like gathering, we love
hugging, we cherish face to face communication. Some of us miss the
struggles that come with deep Bible studies or Wrestling with Faith. We
miss the wonderful music provided by Waldemar and our choirs. We miss the
energy and enthusiasm of acolytes. We miss the comfort that comes from
seeing those whom we love in their pews and, in turn, being seen, on our own,
by them! And so, we do well to remind ourselves that lament, that
sadness, is not discouraged by God. Quite the contrary, He reminds us
over and over to express our fears, our frustrations, our hurts, our pains, our
anger, and our sadness to Him. If ever there was a high feast day in the
Church that should be bathed in lament, it is Ascension during
Coronatide. Our focus, by necessity, by love our our neighbor, is
prevented a bit from beginning the shift.
Of course, nothing ever really
stops God and His plans. We may not be celebrating the Ascension the way
we might want, but maybe we will be able to ponder the Ascension and its
meaning in news ways, ways that might be overlooked or missed entirely if we
focused only on the Ascension as a shift from the Incarnation to the Sacramental
presence of our Lord.
It was, as you might imagine,
suggested that I skip an online Ascension service. For some, their
inability to celebrate the Eucharist and receive the Sacrament took away the
joy of the service and the day. In a congregation that did not celebrate
the Ascension when I arrived, and, to be truthful, whose attendance at a
weekday service was not inspiring or overwhelming, I found that attitude
interesting. But we are here, and it is worth considering the importance
of the Ascension to us, even if we can live in to that shifting perspective in
our normal manner.
The Ascension is important to us
for a couple reasons. First, the Ascension makes it possible for you and
I to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Christians and non-Christians
will sometimes argue with me that we cannot know with certainty that which we
proclaim. I understand the argument. It was easier for the Apostles
and early disciples because they walked and talked with Jesus in a way that is,
barring a mystical tearing of the veil, inaccessible to us. None of us
can cling to Him, as did Mary in the garden, because He is already
ascended. That is not to say, however, that His Ascension is
inconsequential to our faith. His Ascension makes it possible for you and
I to receive the Holy Spirit. We know this because He taught this.
It was necessary for Him to go to the Father so that the Comforter could
come. To the extent that you and I know the gifts we have received from
the Holy Spirit, be they charisms or more tangible or even mystical
experiences, are possible precisely because our Lord is with the Father
interceding on our behalf. No, you cannot testify to a risen Christ in
the same way as Peter or Mary or James, but neither are you left without proof,
as a witness, to His Resurrection. Yes, it’s a little tougher to see, but
our Lord knew that. That’s part of why He prayed especially for you and
me, for those who did not see Him the same way and yet still believed!
Another important teaching that
comes out of the Ascension is the understanding that now is not the time.
One of the great questions of the day was if this was now the time for Him to
establish His kingdom on earth. The disciples and Apostles have been
concerned about the reign of God and when it starts. Heck, Jesus was
tried by the Roman authorities for being an usurper king of sorts. Jesus,
probably disappointing them, tells them it is not for them to know the ages set
by the Father, but it is for them to receive power and to be His witnesses in
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. That you and I
gather today and celebrate this day is proof that they were faithful to that
command and that yet another of Jesus’ promises has been fulfilled.
The flip side of that “now is
not the time” is the anticipation we should each have that He will come
again. Of all the promises made by our Lord, the only one not fulfilled
is that return. The angels even tell us that His return will be like His
leaving. You and I have that to which we can look forward and to motivate
us to do the work He has given us to do!
Finally, another important
teaching that comes out of the Ascension is the intimate presence of our
Lord. In those days that He walked the earth, His locus was wherever He
happened to be in Judea and Samaria. Those who travelled with Him or with
whom He stayed had intimate access. Now, however, the separation
resulting from our sin in the garden has been reversed! Jesus is wherever
two or three are gathered together in His Name and where His presence is
celebrated in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Though we differ with our
Roman brothers and sisters regarding the how He is present at our celebration,
we do remind ourselves each and every Eucharist that Christ really is with us
as we eat that meal, that we are intimately fed and prepared and nurtured for
ministryIn fact, we pray that the Father send the Holy Spirit that He might
dwell in us and that we might dwell in Him. Put in simpler language, He
abides with us all the time, but most especially when we are celebrating His
Body and His Blood! Our access to Him is no longer impeded by our
sins! In fact, we have greater access, access longed for by the Old
Testament saints and the profits, because we know the truth of His death, the
truth of His Resurrection, and the truth of this Ascension which made the
fulfillment of Pentecost possible!
Who knew there was so much in a
midweek evening lesson? In truth, I have treated this more as a homily
than a full bore sermon. There are, to be sure, other lessons contained
in this reading. But for this Ascension Day, when we find ourselves in
the midst of that dark season of Coronatide, it is good to remind ourselves of
His promises and fulfillments that, even in the midst of such darkness as these
days, we might be heralds of His saving grace and thankful holy and living
sacrifices for the salvation and transformation He has wrought in each of us!
In His
Peace,
Brian+
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