After Ascension (A) He Will (Has) Come Again.
After Ascension (A) He Will (Has) Come Again.
If I were to ask you to point to heaven which way would most of us point? “Up” of course. We get some clues from today’s readings. From Acts; “When He said this, as they were watching He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. While He was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?”
Then why do so many invocators at our Rotary meetings call us to prayer by saying, “Let us bow our heads.” And why is it now OK in the Episcopal Church to pray while standing instead of kneeling? (Since both postures are OK our presiding Bishop John Allen said that the important thing is that the one kneeling or standing are not glowering at each other). And why, on occasions like “Rogation Sunday” do we pray in procession while looking all over the place?
Note: Rogation Sunday is the sixth and final Sunday of Easter in Western Christianity, serving as a day of prayer and thanksgiving. Derived from the Latin word rogare (meaning "to ask"), the day traditionally marks a petition for God’s blessing on the earth, agriculture, and the broader community.
My premise is that man’s idea that God and Heaven are “up” limits God’s ability to be wherever He wants to be at any time, any place. I believe the Psalmist got it right when he wrote:
If I go up to heaven, thou are there.
And if I go down to hell, thou are also.
If I go to the uttermost parts of the sea, God is there.
Now, if I ask you to point to heaven which direction would you point? Heaven and God are right here and right now. God is in church, our homes, our places of work, our shopping trips, our social gatherings and our travels. God is up, down, out there, and in here. If we move from here to a new place God is there waiting for us, and God is with us every mile of the way.
If it is true that God is everywhere (the big theological word is “omnipresent”), then the question that the two men in white asked makes sense: Here is THE question again, “Why do you stand looking up toward heaven?” God and the kingdom of heaven is in our midst.
I will admit that the account of Our Lord’s ascension has troubled me over the years. It must be obvious that artists have struggled to get it right. I’ve seen a body entering a cloud with only the feet showing. I call it “Sunday School Art.”
“While they were watching, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight.”
The storyteller, in my opinion, wants to convey the idea that God is not limited by time or space. Eternal life includes all time; past, present, and future. The idea behind the ascension is that God is not limited by any manmade boundaries, or schedule.
I once had this conversation with the Sheriff in his fast speed boat at the end of the dock at Camp Cross on Lake Coeur d’ Alene. I asked, “How long would it take you to travel the 17 miles to the city of Coeur d’ Alene?” He picked up his radio mike and said, “I’m there!”
(I had imagined some kind of time, distance, speed, formula…. not simply, I’m there!)
That conversation helped my understanding of Our Lord’s ascension. When we need Him, He’s there! He may look like a paramedic, He may look like a school teacher comforting a troubled child, He may look like a senior citizen volunteering at a food bank. Why so many possibilities? Because the Spirit of the Lord has many faces. The point is that if we know where to look, we will see God’s Spirit everywhere.
In the Act’s lesson it says that Jesus will come again. I believer he has come again in billions of different and mysterious ways. Those who have been touched by His Spirit have served as His hands and feet. I’m sure that many have served God’s will without consciously choosing to be on God’s team. It was simply the right thing to do.
I believe that the two men in white asked the right question, “Why do you stand here looking up into an empty sky?” We all have known people who look and act with great piety but when the situation calls for hands on action, they fade.
I saw this cartoon that helped me understand: The cartoon showed a man looking at two lists of names. He said, “So far, 2 people have signed up to clean the gutters, and 38 people have signed up to offer prayer support.”
It has been observed that some people are so spiritual that they are no earthly good.
It has been said that Christianity is the most material religion on the planet.
In today’s Gospel Jesus says, “Now I am no longer in the world, but you are in the world,” and there’s work to be done. People need love. People need encouragement. People need understanding. People need help finding food and shelter.
People who are looking piously up into the sky for some all-powerful problem solver to appear…. have missed the point.
My dad, who had next to nothing that could be called discretionary money, would on occasion sigh and say, “Some day when my ship comes in, we will have this, or do that.” Because we lived on the shore of Lake Michigan, I would catch myself scanning the horizon looking for that darn ship, that to this day, to my knowledge, has never docked.
There have been lots of people who were touched by the Spirit of generosity that have helped me, and our family along the way. When I am asked to volunteer or donate to help someone in need, I would have no excuse to look off into the sky with a prayer that the big problem-solver would fix it.
Yes, we need the love of God demonstrated in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, AND we need each other; sometimes more, and sometimes less.
He will…. Has…... come again.
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