As preached by Brother Luke
Holy Wisdom Chapel
When I was a kid space travel was a new and exciting thing. When we knew that a launch from Cape Canaveral was scheduled, it would be broadcast on TV and everyone would gather around the TV to watch the launch. News broadcasters would be giving blow by blow accounts of every detail leading up to the launch. The camera would keep showing the rocket sitting in place as the preparations continued for the big moment. Then the announcement came and the engines would be started and massive flames would shoot out from under the rocket as the supports fell away and the announcer would finally say: “we have lift off.” As the rocket sped away we would watch the TV screen to follow the rocket until it was so small we could not longer see it. It was a magical moment.
It is easy to forget all the mission control staff who were busy throughout the flight monitoring all that was going on. Reports at the end of the mission leading to the return of the space craft were also big news, but what really remained in one’s memory was the launch.
The Ascension we celebrate today is a lift off without a spacecraft. And its most important message is about what is to happen on earth, not so much what might be happening in heaven. The church reminds us that the Ascension of Christ is more about the commissioning of the disciples rather than the disappearance of Jesus into the clouds. When we look at the many different versions of the Ascension icon, Christ is depicted above in the mandorial, opening the gateway to heaven for all, while the crowd below looks up but remains firmly on the ground. Jesus’s departure was necessary in order to set the stage for the ultimate second coming. You need a “going” before you can have a “second coming.” Hard to come back if you haven’t left. He goes to prepare the way for us.
This is not a time of sadness over Jesus’s ascent to the Father, even though our liturgical texts beg Jesus not to leave us here a orphans, but rather it is a time of anticipation and joy. A time when we, as in the opening line of the poem by James Weldon Johnson that became through the NAACP the Black National Anthem: “Lift every voice and sing.” If you have ever been in a crowd singing that song you would know what a powerful experience it can be. That song does not mean everything now is perfect, but rather it is a stirring song of hope. It is similar to what this feast calls us to do:
Lift our voices in praise of the one who rose from the dead for our salvation
Lift our spirits buoyed by hope in a brighter future for all
Lift the burdens of others where we are able to
Lift the veil of fear that covers the lives of so many among and around us
Lift up our souls, our minds and our emotions to appreciate the gifts and graces that we receive every day
Lift up those in need, those suffering, forgotten, disinherited, disenfranchised, discontented, or depressed
St James reminds us in his letter to the whole Christian world, as we heard again a few days ago: “faith without works is dead.” [James 2:17] The message for us is the same as for the disciples. We too are being commissioned by this feast to carry the Good News out to the world and to do this by how we live. We are in mission control, but our mission is about what is going on on earth not above the earth. It is a mission of joy as expressed in the Jerusalem Troparion of the feast.
Today, we declare the word of joy to all the world, for the Lord has delivered his people and ascended in glory, granting humankind his great mercy.
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