Ascension Day

This week I did an assembly in school and talked about Christmas backwards day or even Samtsirhc day and they all thought that I’d gone quite mad – samtsirhc, for those who haven’t realised it, is actually Christmas spelt backwards. But Christmas backwards is part of what Ascension Day is about. At Christmas we celebrate Jesus being born into the world, coming amongst us, and at Ascension Day we celebrate Jesus leaving the world.

It’s a very odd celebration because whilst Jesus was here he did an incredible number of good things, both in teaching and in his work and example to others, but we celebrate Ascension Day – Jesus physically leaving the world – because in that action his ministry was widened and his power revealed more clearly.

On earth, Jesus was a human whose ministry was restricted to a relatively small number of people, but in heaven his power extends to all and over all. On Ascension Day we celebrate Jesus entrusting us with the power to build his kingdom, and giving us the strength to do it.

For many of us throughout the history of the Church we have been concerned primarily with Church building, either literally in putting up new buildings, or in trying to fill those buildings with people. Often this has led to us forgetting that it is not Church building but kingdom building that we should be involved in.

The Church is a tool of God, a fellowship of people gathering for worship, for support, for strength – it is a family united, but the kingdom of God is a much wider place, a place with no walls and no territorial limits, where Jesus wants to build a better world for absolutely everyone, not sometime in the future, but here and now.

The Feast of Ascension day is an often neglected festival in the Church, perhaps because it always occurs on a Thursday – I read about a theological college where one of the students had a bright idea to try and make Ascension Day more real and more important… This Ascension Day service was quite an event, with clergy, staff, and ordinands all suitably dressed in their robes to commemorate this holy mystery. The service ended and, amidst clouds of incense, the entire assembly processed outside singing a rousing ascension hymn.

Unknown to the worshipers, an enterprising student had prepared a surprise ending for them. He had taken one of those near life-sized Christmas crib figures - you know, the hollow, plastic, painted kind - and he had stuffed it with some sort of rocket device. As the procession of proper clergy marched into the courtyard, the student lit the fuse, sending the statue soaring up, sailing through a cloud of smoke and sparks, buzzing the rapidly dispersing procession, and finally doing a nose dive onto the roof of a nearby dormitory. There, the Ascension Rocket sputtered and died.

The dean of the College was surprisingly not impressed with the student's defence that he was "simply trying to dramatize the reality of the ascension." Nor has his ritual idea caught on, even among liturgical innovators. I can't understand why!

But Ascension Day is important because it is the start of a new era in history – the era where God says to his people, ‘Build my Kingdom, and I will give you the strength to do it.’

I’ll finish with a short reading which I found when I was preparing for this service, written by The Reverend Marilyn E. Thornton, which says,

‘Watching and waiting. Is that what it is all about? Before John the Baptist, the people of God were watching and waiting, looking for the Anointed One who would free them from their oppressors, looking for a kingdom in which they would rule. They watched and waited so diligently that many missed it, when anointedness showed up in a man named Jesus.

Watching and waiting. While John the Baptist was in prison, he sent messengers to ask Jesus, "Are you the one we are waiting for? Are you the one we are watching for?" Jesus asked back, "What are you looking for? Do the blind see? Do the lame walk? Were you looking for wholeness?"

Even after Jesus died, the disciples were watching and waiting. Jesus had risen from the dead, eaten fish with them, walked with them up to Mount Olivet. Jesus had continued to teach them from the law, the psalms, and the prophets. Suddenly he was lifted up and carried away on the clouds. Going back to glory! Hallelujah! And those who were with him watched the sky.

They waited and they watched. They watched and they waited. Until the angels asked them, "What are you doing? Why are you gazing into space?"

The question still resounds.

Why are we gazing into space? Waiting and watching! Jesus taught us. Jesus showed us. Jesus promised to clothe us with anointedness, and with the Holy Spirit power to do things than he did. And indeed, the Holy Spirit came and continues to be present that we might do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Oh yes, he is coming back. But our waiting must include kingdom building, creating a realm where there are no oppressors, where there is abundance for the poor, and healing and wholeness for all the children of God. While we watch, let us look for signs of God's love and grace in the world and share the good news. While we watch and wait today, let us ride high on the cloud of worship. Let the kingdom show up in this place, for Jesus is already here.’ AMEN