Seeker

Today is Ascension Day, a Christian celebration of Christ's ascension into heaven. Ascension is a mystery. In one sense Christ leaves this world. He is also given to us. Not confined to 1 place, Christ is in heaven at the heart of all things, accessible to all who seek him. Christ took our humanity into heaven. In the Ascension, Christ’s glory is both revealed and concealed.  In a world where weapons, wealth, winning elections or controlling the media means power, it’s not surprising many see as ridiculous the Christian claim that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords. We Christians claim that the most powerful are as nothing compared to the cosmic King Jesus. To celebrate Jesus’ Ascension is a daring act of faith. It’s audacious to claim that the son of a young Jewish girl, born more than 2,000 years ago and executed on a cross, is alive and now reigns over all. We’re not simply saying Jesus’ teaching influences us. We’re saying Jesus is both human and divine, seated...

Ascension Day often passes unnoticed, even by many Christians. It falls on the Thursday of the 6th week of the Easter season, 10 days before Pentecost Sunday. Like Easter it is a move-able feast and lacks the commercial reminders that alert people to the date of Easter Sunday.  Ascension Day recalls the last of the resurrection appearances of Jesus to his disciples. So it could be seen as an ending. But as with most endings it also marks a beginning. The stained glass image at the head of this post shows the disciples, including Jesus' mother Mary looking up after Jesus disappeared from their sight. They could not stay there. They had to return from the quiet place to the bustle of the city where they did indeed find him to be still with them, but in a new way. Ascension Day celebrates not the absence of Jesus but his presence, no longer confined to time, space or a particular locality of ancient Palestine. Jesus is present and potentially available by his Holy...

How do you explain Jesus' ascension into heaven without diminishing the mystery? I've been looking at paintings of the Ascension of Jesus and find most rather ridiculous. So I've chosen some clouds to illustrate this post. Acts 1: 1-11 refers to a cloud that received Jesus out of his disciples' sight. Cloud is symbolic of the presence of God. And for me the Ascension is as much about presence as absence - about humanity raised into the presence of God and Jesus no longer confined to time, space or particular locality, but present and potentially available by his Spirit to all people, everywhere. My favourite Ascension account is the end of Luke's gospel: "Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. while he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God." Luke 24: 5...

Today, 40 days after Easter Sunday, is Ascension Day. This oil painting (1958) by Salvador Dali imagines the ascension from the disciples' view point as they gazed upwards after a cloud took Jesus out of their sight. The focus is the feet and this has all sorts of resonances. It especially reminds me of what Paul wrote to the Ephesians about the power of God: "God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all thins for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all."   Ephesians 1: 20-22 The feet also remind me of the cross of Christ, upon which he was raised high to die. Anyone standing at the foot of the cross and looking up would have seen the unde...