God is Gone Up

Courtesy of c28.com

I am fast learning, as a priest, that some of these festival days are hard things to preach at - and to not say the same thing a year later!

Anyway, brothers and sisters, it is the Feast of the Ascension, or as we like to call it in these parts, the Feast of the Ascension. Last year I considered how it must have been for the disciples with their new "Jesus shaped hole", and as I approached my own first incumbency, wondered how it might have been for twelve ordinary folk and their supporters taking on their first incumbency for the whole planet.

This year, I have been thinking about that utterance from the Cross - "it is finished", or "it is accomplished". They are significant words, much pondered and the essence of which is the fluff in so many prayer cushions! I think though, without the Ascension, this statement would have meant the darkest of things, and not the most salvific. 

So much of faith and church life alludes to journeying. Each act of worship has a beginning, a middle and an end (even the most 'spontaneous' acts). Even our meetings are framed by a route of journey. Time passes, and one thing leads to the next thing - and if we forget that in the sparkling moments of our faith's story, we miss a great deal of the point - I believe. 

Imagine Bethlehem and the birth. Great - a baby, new parents, gifts, heavenly creatures and the odd ungulate. Imagine the stable without the Christ's ministry and you simply have a Christmas Card scene, or at least a scene long ago forgotten because it would have fast become the account delivered by perceived beardy-weirdies. Jesus' ministry - full of miracle and teaching. Imagine that ministry without the Passion and death of Jesus. It would have been a notable ministry of an itinerant healer-preacher. No more no less. The crucifixion was a tragedy, a heinous crime - but without the Resurrection it would simply have been the slaying of a local religious hero, an early William Wallace moment. It may have even reached a history book, maybe. The Resurrection turned that murder into the atoning sacrifice, the crime into the most significant gift known to humankind. 

Without the Ascension, the only thing accomplished would have been the darker intentions of jealous pharisees and weak Romans. No more, no less. 

So, this is in many ways the final piece in the Jesus Jigsaw - the last piece that locks all the others into place. All that was done would have remained undone and incomplete had it not been for this super-natural and mysterious moment when the entire process set into place at the point of the Annuniciation was consummated and completed. 

Annunciation to Ascension - the greatest journey in the world, and we make it every year!

Forced to Faith

Today is the day when Christians celebrate the Ascension of Jesus to heaven. It probably brings with it more questions than answers, but that is so often the case when we consider the 'moments' of our faith story.

To my mind, the Ascension is the final movement in the Symphony of Easter, the epilogue in the film - the final chapter. It is the absolute conclusion and realisation of a path of prophecy, and also of the events precipitated by the raising of Lazarus, itself remembered two weeks before Easter on Passion Sunday. In that cycle, we have had a triumphal entry to a Holy City, deceit and betrayal, murder and desolation, miracles and doubting, uncertainty and new realities. And so here one Symphony ends ready for the next to begin, that of the birth and life of the Church. 

It is easy for us in twenty-first century internet underwritten enlightened life, with books and articles written in their millions, to take all this stuff on the chin. We know all of this because the Bible tells us so. We know how the story after Jesus will pan-out, for a couple of thousand years at least, because we have the benefit of hindsight. 

So consider the Apostles. Consider the Marys. They had no Bible. They had no benefit of hindsight. They had a great big Jesus-shaped hole. 

In mere weeks I will take on my first incumbency. I am not inexperienced to taking on new responsibilities, as I have done so before, but I remember the flavour of that experience. I will take on the spiritual leadership of one church community. Consider the Apostles. In a week's time (by our calendar), they will be taking on the Incumbency for the whole of Christendom - the building of a world-wide church. They didn't have the benefit of a theological education, the might and cash of Alpha, or even a Bible - they had a simple spoken mandate to act. They were forced to faith. 

The Feast of the Ascension is, to me, the first true moment where faith is lived out in the lives of ordinary people. This even tips the 'follow me' stuff, because at least the new disciples had a leader in the flesh at that point. Now they have no-one - just a resurrection to comes to terms with, a man whose teachings would reach into future millenia, and no resources at all except themselves. What faith; what results. We know that in the end, it would be a faith journey unto their own execution - and without that sacrifice on their part, well - the alternative is almost to terrible to contemplate. 


(The essence of an impromptu, unplanned sermon delivered earlier. I wanted to write it down before I forgot what I had said)

Surely just a coincidence!

I am halfway through writing an homily (actually, it needs to be even shorter than that, so more of an 'omelette') for Ascension Day, tomorrow, and something interesting occurs to me ...

Sit back and listen, and see what you think.

We have the leader, much misunderstood, who has nevertheless ministered across the towns and villages, preaching his message surrounded by his supporters. His love for his people is legendary.

After a few short years of ministry, the dissenting voices get louder and louder until they are insurmountable and overpowering - they demand a trial. There is a betrayal or two mixed in there too, just for good measure.

So we have a trial, and the leader is found to be wanting - not right, unsuitable. He is not wanted anymore, and there must be a ceremonial and terminal removal of that hapless fool, for he has caused too much trouble and the failings of the world are down to him and his erroneous teachings. The public life of the leader is ended in front of the whole assembly - 'it is finished'. 

Then there is a strange time when the leader is both there but not fully gone - his remaining disciples can see him, but he is beyond their grasp. They are uncertain, fearful. After a few days, the leader stood among his disciples one more time, and told them that these things must be fulfilled. Then he left them, and went up ....

When the leader had 'gone up', those who were left behind filled the empty seats with new disciples, gathered in a room together and started to ponder the life that lay ahead of them. None of them had stood in that place before and with such concerns - and a new leader addressed the crowd, seeking to build a new future for all. 

So to 'went up...' add 'to Scotland' and you could be talking about the most honourable and noble Gordon Brown. Add 'to heaven' and you are talking about Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

Is it just me who spotted this uncanny similarity of narratives?  Has the gin worn off? And if anyone says 'God-incidence', I will plight them with a blight or two!

Happy Ascension Day to you all! God is gone up with a Triumphant Shout!