Exaltation 2016

September 14, 2016

Preached by Sister Cecelia
Holy Wisdom Church


Is 10:25-27,11:10-12, 1 Cor1:17-28, Jn19:13-35



Life is so full of mysteries. An ignominious death on a cross was certainly one of the mysteries the followers of Christ had to deal with.

A stumbling block to the Jews because they were looking for a miracle worker that would free them from the yoke of the Romans. The whole of Chapter 53 of Isaiah describes all that happened to the servant of God in Isaiah’s time, which was a foretelling of what also happened to Jesus. Chapter 53 ends with “Because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” The Jews’ Messiah could not be this servant of God, according to their law from Deuteronomy 21, verse 23: “He that is hanged is accursed by God.” One who served God and ended on a Cross seemed an impossible picture of the Messiah, the Chosen One of God.

The Greeks found the notion of a God becoming human to be ridiculous for several reasons. Their notion of a god was a being with no feeling. If anyone or anything could influence the god, that thing or person was therefore better than or superior to the god. They viewed god as unchanging, and by our nature a human changes. A second-century writer expressed their reasoning with these words: “God is good and beautiful and happy and is in that which is most beautiful and the best.” The incarnation would be a change for a god to experience, a change from good to bad, from beautiful to ugly, from happiness to unhappiness, from what is best to what is worst. If one had the time to delve into the Greeks’ history, it might become apparent where their notions of what a god is came from. Nevertheless, if we look at our own notions of God versus the material world through the ensuing centuries, the desire for goodness, for happiness, to be “best” pervades Christianity throughout its history. The desire to be united with Absolute Goodness has been the aspiration of many and seems a good thing. The outlook that everything human is worse, unhappy, bad, and ugly seems to be missing the mark but has also been in evidence by many as well: flee from the “world.”


If we understand this Absolute Goodness as Love, some things fall into place (though mystery is still abundant). Let us ponder what Absolute Goodness—Love— has to do with the Cross.

What can we learn from celebrating this exaltation of the Cross?

The Cross is not merely a nice artistic addition to our churches. It is a constant reminder of our faith in the one who was slain for us. It is a reminder that because we each have free will, there will always be suffering. Contrary to what many think, suffering is not God’s will. However, with discernment we can learn to be at peace with suffering that we cannot avoid and even learn from, and suffering that we should try to eliminate as best we can.

The Cross is a reminder that by Christ’s dying and rising, the fear of death has been overcome. The mystery of this ignominious death becomes the joy of the Cross that Paul and the other apostles preached so boldly. It is the joy that comes from knowing that all things in heaven and on earth are reconciled in Jesus. Our ascent to the Divine and the descent to the world can be brought into harmony.

In the gospel of John, Jesus says that “when the Son of Man is lifted up he will draw all things to himself.” On Calvary all are united, Jew and Greek, male and female, as equals before God. It is love that draws all things into Christ. It is love that enables us to embrace all things as valuable in the eyes of God. It is a mystery that all are equals in God’s sight, but if all are equals then all are valuable. Even if we embrace this notion of all being loved by God, and we attempt to love as God loves, we find it not always possible. It is a humbling experience to realize that we cannot do or be what we would like to do or be without the help of God. In our attempts to love as God has commanded us to do, let us be mindful that God is with us to help us to live out this mystery of the goodness in all things.

Glory be to God!

Sermon 139; Is 56: 3, 6-8; Rom 12:6-19(21); Mt 15:21-8 “Stay with us who love you”

Preached by Brother Luke

Holy Wisdom Church

As I thought about this passage during my personal prayer time, a prayer from the third hour kept coming to mind. So I began to think about how these two texts might be connected. Here is the prayer:

Jesus, grant us your servants fast and constant comfort when discouragement overwhelms our inmost spirit. When our souls are troubled do not withdraw from us, nor be far off when we are confused and doubtful in the midst of all the trials and tribulations of life. Rather, stand by us always, yes, come close to us, O you who are present everywhere, come close. And just as you promised to stay with your apostles, so stay with us who love you, so that ever united with you we may sing the praises of your all Holy Spirit.

The 3^rd hour is about the Holy Spirit which explains why the prayer ends as it does. But for me the phrase that connects to the Gospel passage is: “Stay with us who love you.” To love Jesus, what does that love look like?

At every Eucharist just before we approach to receive communion we hear the words of invitation: in faith and love draw near. This is precisely what the Canaanite woman in the Gospel did. In faith and love she drew near. Her appeal to Jesus is for her daughter’s sake. But then notice what happens. She is rebuked by Jesus. He tells her that he has been sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. But she persists in her petition. Then Jesus goes a step further and says “it’s not right to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” What’s going on here? To modern western ears this sounds like verbal abuse.

In the Arab world, then and now, dogs are not seen as pets the way we often view them in the West. They run in packs and can be dangerous as they scavenge for food. Even those dogs that are used for hunting, herding or guarding are not house pets. Some of you may remember Susan Coulter-Miller who lived nearby for a few years and attended church here. She subsequently spent a tour of duty in the Peace Corps in Jordan. She lived with a family and worked hard to show them how to accept a dog into their family as a pet. She wrote about her experience in our Newsletter. Unfortunately, when she left Jordan, her experiment ended and the dog was out of the house. This is the cultural reality that Jesus was living in so when he referred to the Canaanite woman as a dog it was unmistakably pejorative.

St Matthew is spreading the Good News among his own Jewish community and the picture painted in this Gospel passage plays an important role in that work. Matthew’s hearers and readers were fully aware of the negative nature of the image he is presenting. It is stark and it is intended to be that way. Jesus affirms the common view that he has come only for the Jewish community and certainly not for Canaanite outsiders. But this woman persists in a way that even the hardest heart could not dismiss. “Even dogs eat the scraps that fall from the master’s table.” As with so many other Gospel stories, persistence is rewarded. Jesus recognizes her faith and grants her wish. Her daughter is cured. By so doing, Jesus has shown his community that even people they may equate with dogs can be welcomed into the community of believers. And indeed, expanding the community is the message in the Isaiah passage also.

So one valuable message delivered by this passage is the invitation to be open and to embrace all who seek to join the community of believers.  And yet, I think there is another message here as well. It is the faith in, and love for, Jesus that this woman exhibited. Her faith proved to be the critical factor for Jesus. He says to her: “you are a woman of great faith.” He uses her demonstration of faith to justify his healing of her daughter. Her faith was so strong that even Jesus’ rebuke could not budge it. This is also the faith we see in the martyrs through the centuries. Having limbs severed, eyes gouged out, being burned at the stake or beheaded, none of these atrocities shook the faith of the martyrs. They didn’t budge from their faith and love of Jesus; no matter what abuse came their way.  So her steadfast faith and unwavering love of Jesus is the additional message for us; and as with St. Matthew’s community, the openness to accept all who seek this path to salvation.  This is not only the gospel message but the epistle message as well.

Would that our faith and love of Jesus could be as strong as that of the Canaanite woman. 

Homily: Matthew 7: 1-11

As Preached by Sr, Rebecca
July 8, 2016

Holy Wisdom Church


Today’s Gospel is a continuation of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount found in chapters 5-7 of Matthew’s Gospel. These three chapters, beginning with the Beatitudes form a kind of Magna Carta in the communities of the converted Jews in the second half of the first century in Galilee and in Syria.

Matthew’s community like our own is composed of Christians dedicated to Christ on a journey of transformation.

The lived community experience of todays Gospel is the touchstone. It embraces 3 different aspects:

1. Do not focus on the splinter in your brother/sister’s eye (1-5), rather turn your attention the log in your own eye.

2. Do not throw your pearls in front of pigs (6)

3. Bring your needs to God as a trusting son and daughter. (7-11)

Now let’s Explore the 1st imperative:

‘Do not judge”. Jesus, here, is addressing rash, reckless, and foolhardy judgments. Rigid opinions and negative judgments darken the heart. The contracted, critical part of our small minds is the distorting lens that magnifies our differences and if we are really aware of our body/mind we can actually feel the disharmony within ourselves. Trying to figure out people with our short sighted minds throws a veil over our own hearts. Focusing on the errors of others also minimizes in our small minds our fallibility, our own vulnerability. A teacher once said that a habit of negative judging is an occupational disease of some serious religious people. Especially in our times of chaos all over the planet we need to use all our powers of presence to live from the heart.

We need see God revealing our own blind spots to us, those shadow areas in our life that we have failed to see. If we go after them with a sense of willfulness, anger, self-depreciation we risk obstructing our God given gifts. Jesus puts it: “if you try to pull out the weeds, you might pull out the wheat along with it. (Mt 13:29).

Rilke expresses this to a young poet: “Don’t take my devils away, because my angels may flee too.”

2. The second imperative: “Do not throw your pearls to swine”. In Hebrew there is a play on words here: pearl and treasure share the same consonants. What is this treasure we need to honor and not expose to just any person or in any situation?

This treasure is one’s intimate relationship with God.

In Ps. 119: I lay your word as a treasure upon my heart. We lay God’s Word upon our heart, and in a sacred moment our hearts open, this word sinks into the heart, and transforms it.

This pearl that Jesus is talking about is like the metaphor of a seed as in the Parable of the Sower and the Seed. It needs the dark and the depth of the soil in order to germinate and become the mature plant that it is meant to become. The seeds that fall on the road, the rock, and the thorns all are trampled on, or wither.

The gift of God’s grace is a treasure to be honed and honored in solitude and silence.


3. The third imperative: Jesus urges us to ask, seek and knock and trust that the door of grace will be opened to us. When we don’t know how to deal with a situation, we tend to contract and go into the insular within ourselves. This makes us less available to grace. We must find a balance between self-effort and trust, openness and reliance on the grace of God.


Jesus throughout the Gospel teaches us to think of grace, God’s presence as woven into the fabric of reality. There is the reality of the daily 24/7, and there is grace, which is wider and deeper than our limited sense of self.


When we rely on ourselves to figure out how to deal with any particular problem in our lives, this leads to hopelessness and even despair. On the other hand when we leave everything up to the grace of God, then we shirk responsibility and we can go to sleep, become passive, numb.

This is a paradox: we need to question, seek understanding, but sooner or later we come to a dead end, a humbling sense of fallibility, perhaps even failure. We need to look inward, feel our desires, and engage in the struggle in dealing with them. But we also need to experience that we cannot with our small minds solve any dilemma. Sometimes we may even cry out: “Oh God, where are you in this mess?” We feel alone and empty. Then out of the blue, the grace of God breaks through. Grace, beauty and a quality of love permeates us. There is a moment of aliveness resonating within us. Chronos time merges with Kairos time as Br. Luke in his homily mentioned a couple of weeks ago.

St. Teresa of Avila says that in any given difficult situation, we need to engage all our faculties as though everything depends on us and yet we need to surrender and trust as though everything depends on God.

I like to offer a true story: Fr. William Johnson SJ taught world religions at the University of Tokyo for many years. He also started there a daily meditation group. All were welcome, Christians or not. One day a young man came in, introduced himself to Fr. Johnson asking if he could come. He said he was very depressed, that life was a daily struggle, his girlfriend had left him, he hated his job etc. and really he had no desire to live. Coming here was the last attempt to do something about his miserable life. He asked Fr. what he should do during this silent time: Fr. Johnson said: recite this phrase: “Today is a beautiful day”. It doesn’t matter if you do not believe it, nor feel it; just do it. This young man came every day. Weeks later the man comes up to Father Johnson saying: “thank you”. My external situation is the same yet “truly today is a beautiful day”. This man’s ‘small mind has descended into his heart. Nothing changed but everything has changed.

6th Sunday after Pentecost Mt 9:18-26, Romans 8:1-11, 2Kings 4 25-37

Preached by Sister Cecelia

Holy Wisdom Church

Glory be to Jesus Christ!

Can you picture how this woman who had been considered unclean for 12 yrs had managed to get through the crowds surrounding Jesus to be able to touch even the fringe on his robe? She chose totally to ignore the fear of the repercussions if anyone recognized her and realized they were now unclean and would have to perform the ritual purifying enactments. She sensed she could not go up and ask Jesus directly for a cure but had heard such tales of his healing abilities and kindness that she was filled with hope and faith that he would heal her if she merely touched the tassel of his cloak. I have always doubted that Jesus did not know who had been healed. He wanted her to know it was all right to have done what she did and he wanted others to know how much he esteemed her faith in him to be able to heal her just with a touch.

For the sake of ritual purity this woman was ostracized from society. While we don’t have the same laws now, are there individuals that we ostracize from our society? What about those with addictions of any kind? Some science and medical practitioners indicate that opioid addiction, for example, is a chronic, often relapsing disease of the brain. Although the initial decision to take drugs may be voluntary, chemical and neurological changes to the brain severely restrict a person’s self -control. The disease hinders one’s ability to resist intense impulses to take drugs-despite harmful consequences to themselves and to others. I’ve been told that most addictions are treatable and there are things we each can do to help. We can encourage people in recovery, we can support treatment opportunities. We can commit to not use hurtful or damaging words about those who face addiction. There are many other opportunities we can do to lessen the difficulties of anyone who feels ostracized.

The crowds had heard the leader of a synagogue beg Jesus to come and touch his daughter who had just died. He was truly distressed and willing to try anything to bring her back to life. Was the crowd that got up to follow Jesus only curious to see another miracle performed or were they just excited to think a healer was among them and wanting to see for themselves? In the Hebrew scriptures the power to bring back life was often by touch, by laying on the inert body and or breathing into it. There is no denying that Jairus also had the faith that is so esteemed by Jesus. Matthew does not name the synagogue leader but we learn the fathers name Jairus from the other evangelists.

Our life depends on saying yes, we are with you, Jesus, and to the gift of faith given us. If we are sincere, our yes will be evident in everything we do. Jesus has said; whoever lives the truth comes to the light so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God and through. Perhaps what can be gleaned from the Epistle this morning is that when we have the Spirit of God within us, we have all the help we need to live for God and not for selfish or worldly ends.

When we receive the Eucharist, the body and blood of Jesus we more than touch the fringe of Jesus’ garment. In faith we reenact the mystery of Jesus reaching out and touching us to give us his life. We are reminded that our bodies as well as our souls benefit by Christ touching us. When we receive Christ by faith, we begin an immediate personal relationship with God. This relationship has to be nourished by our taking time to think of God, to meditate, to read and reflect and most of all, to listen. It takes faith to keep on doing these things even when at times it can feel like we are doing nothing. The Holy Spirit works in us to help us become like Christ. Then everything we do, every action, no matter how lowly a job or how high, becomes a prayer The Spirit unites the Christian community in Christ. The Holy Spirt can be experienced by all and works through all of us.

Christ is in our midst!

Sermon 138; 2Kg5:1-14; Rm5:1-11; Mt8:5-13: Life’s lessons

As preached by Brother Luke,

Holy Wisdom Church


     This morning’s scripture readings bring me back to the time when I worked in the Department of Defense in Washington DC. Though a civilian, I worked within the military environment. Both the story about the Centurion and the story about Syrian General Naaman highlight lessons drawn from military culture. At first glance, both of these stories are about healings. They point to the power of God acting in the world. And yet I think there is another message for all of us that we should not overlook.

     At the heart of the Centurion story is his understanding of authority and how it is supposed to work. For a military organization to be effective everyone needs to be clear about authority and ready to respond in a positive way to commands. The Centurion’s training lays the foundation for this and his experience confirms it. So when he asks Jesus to heal his servant, he understands that Jesus has the power to make this happen. The Centurion is so convinced of this that he says to Jesus I’m not worthy for you to enter under the roof of my house, just say the word and it will be done. He does not expect Jesus to personally go and minister to his servant as a doctor would. Rather he believes that the power to heal will be activated simply on the command from Jesus. On hearing this, Jesus commends the Centurion for his faith. A faith that surpasses any that he has seen in Israel. A faith in Jesus’ authority, drawn from God, to affect a healing. Jesus was neither commending nor condemning the military mindset but rather affirming the Centurion’s wisdom to draw from his experience an understanding of faith in God’s power in the world.

     Of course, the military understanding of the top down quality of authority is only one aspect of the military culture. The story from 2nd Kings about the Syrian General [commander] Naaman and the Prophet Elisha adds another dimension to this paradigm. Although in those times it was not unusual for servants [or slaves] to be a part of the military retinue, today we might call them subordinates. So in this story the Israeli servant girl passes on information to Naaman about the prophet in Samaria, Elisha, who she says could cure his skin disease. This is an example of information [not authority] going from the bottom up. Naaman takes this information to the Syrian King hoping to get permission to go to this prophet. Naaman knows he needs the permission of the King to follow-up on the Israeli servant girl’s information. Again, utilizing the expected authority structure, top down. The King obliges and sends the general to Israel with a letter and gifts for the King in Israel. The Israeli King’s response is grist for another homily. In the end Naaman goes to see Elisha. However, Elisha does not meet the general but simply sends a message telling him what he needs to do to be cured. Sounds like Jesus and the Centurion’s servant. However, Naaman takes offense because what is happening does not conform to his expectations. He storms off but another servant [subordinate] speaks to him about the prophet’s instructions and convinces him to do what Elisha says to do. Why should these servants care about Naaman’s welfare? Whether we view this dynamic in terms of servant-master or subordinate-superior, the interests are the same. It is in the subordinate’s best interest for the superior, in this case the Syrian commander, to be well and successful. The subordinate casts his argument in a way that he believes is most likely to convince Naaman to do what is in his best interests, even though the commander does not see it. This reminds me of the way information is passed on in the government and other large organizations. Massive reports always come with Executive Summaries which are usually the only part of the report most executives will ever read. If decisions are needed, usually three options are given and the often used strategy is to make option B the one you want the executive to choose. It’s all about how information is presented. The servant crafted his argument to appeal to Naaman’s desire to be strong in spite of his disease. When Naaman agrees to do what Elisha instructed him to do and is cured, he then goes to Elisha to thank him and to declare that Elisha’s God is the only true God and he will henceforth pay homage to that God.

     So we have two different stories set in a military context that ultimately bring the central character to an understanding of who the true God is. The centurion applies his training and experience about authority to come to a faith in Jesus while Naaman, by relying on information from subordinates, aware of its value, is also brought to a realization of the true God. Life’s experiences brought them both to God. But these paths were their paths. They are not the only paths. Indeed, they are not necessarily the ideal paths. They simply illustrate a more generic truth. In our search for God we might learn from these stories not to dismiss life’s lessons for they may well be the avenues leading us to God.

     Christ is in our midst.

Homily for the Sunday of the Fathers of Nicea 2016

As preached by Brother Christopher

Holy Wisdom Church

          Next week on Pentecost, for the first time in about 1200 years, the heads of the autocephalous Orthodox churches are scheduled to meet in Crete in a great and Holy Council. This has been in the planning for close to a hundred years; everyone in Orthodoxy knows and agrees in principal that it is desperately needed. And yet in recent months there are disturbing signs that all of the planning and hard work is once again going to fall short of of realization: the Church of Georgia stated recently that it could not sign one of the chief documents on relations with the non-Orthodox churches; just this past week the Church of Bulgaria said that it is not going to attend the Council at all, and the Antiochene Church has also threatened to boycott the event due to a jurisdictional dispute with the Patriarchate of Jerusalem over the Church in Qatar... there are even reports of heated disagreements over seating arrangements for the hierarchs that threaten the Council. It leaves one wondering if we shall ever get beyond the pettiness that has so often crippled Orthodox church life in recent centuries. Put cynically, “Where’s an emperor when you need him?” 

          All of this is strangely relevant to today’s celebration, when we honor the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council that was held long ago at Nicea in 325. That Council was called by the Emperor Constantine and intended to establish clarity and unity in Christian doctrine and church life. The issues were far more contentious than those we’re carping about today: for example, whether Jesus was really one essence with the Father -- whether he was the Eternal Word incarnate, or whether he was, as Arius claimed, merely a magnificent creature, the nicest of guys. Those Fathers also came out with a common creed that expressed the essentials of Christian faith that have remained in place even to this day. Those hierarchs met in council together throughout that year, argued passionately for their beliefs and ultimately came to a common clarity of faith through dialogue and discernment. What would Orthodox Christian faith be without that initial Council? It leads one to wonder, “we claim that we are the Church of the Fathers. Yet how faithful to the spirit of those Fathers are the games we see being played out in advance of the coming Great and Holy Council?” We will have to wait and see whether the movement of the Spirit at Pentecost is able to rouse the Council set to meet in Crete, or whether we shall have to simply put up with more frustration and embarrassment as a Church that cannot seem to read the signs of the times as a true kairos moment. Lord have mercy! 

          In this morning’s gospel the high priest Caiaphas states, “You know nothing at all.  You do not understand that it is better to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.”  Caiaphas doesn’t realize the true import of what he has said: this passage has often been used to show that Jesus died for our sins. While that is true, unfortunately it has been understood in a toxic way -- particularly in the Christian West -- to reinforce an atonement theology grounded in substitution. Jesus is the one who dies in our stead. He is the scapegoat, the perfect victim who appeases the Divine anger for all of our sins. It is a strange concept: God requires Jesus to die on the cross to free the debt we owe, to pay the penalty for our own sin and disobedience. God demands payment, and so Jesus‘ sacrifice becomes a juridical transaction. If that’s what it means to be saved, then it turns God into something of a legalist. 

          But there is another way of looking at Jesus’ sacrifice that seems to me much more in harmony with the gospel. The salvation offered to us by Jesus is contingent on revealing just how completely, how unconditionally we are loved. Jesus was put to death because he preached a message that was at variance with the Jewish status quo. His was a true Gospel, good news, a message that revealed God’s kingdom as one of  inclusion, as open to all who repent. By challenging the hypocrisy, rigidity and narrowness of the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus angered them to such an extent that they conspired to put him to death. And they did. But Jesus on the cross reveals the extent that God will go to help us understand God’s limitless love for us. He will go even to the death. And that is just the mystery of Christ that Paul understood and was transformed by, that he speaks of in his letter to the Ephesians when he prays that we will have

“the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth,  19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

That is what the Fathers at Nicea were ultimately about, what they saw in Jesus and what they intended to pass on to us. Please God, may the Fathers at this coming Great and Holy Council be as faithful and vigilant as those who met at Nicea so long ago. 

Sermon 137; Is2:1-5; Ac 1:1-12; Lk24:36-53: Ascension: Abandoned

As preached by Brother Luke
Holy Wisdom Church

Glory be to Jesus Christ!

I'm leavin' on a jet plane/ I don't know when I'll be back again. For some reason, while thinking about this feast and the scripture passages from Luke’s gospel and Acts, these lyrics from that old song kept coming to mind. John Denver; Peter, Paul and Mary and many others sang that song. It is about a departure with no return expected. Many of us may have experienced that special fascination of watching a plane take off from an airport, rise into the sky and fly away, slowly shrinking to a small speck and then disappearing from view. And if the plane also had a friend or loved one on board, the emotions around that departure can become quite intense. We may not know if we will ever see that person again. Or we may know that we will never see that person again. In which case, feelings of loss, grief, sadness, disappointment, estrangement and abandonment may arise. My guess is that the apostles at the Ascension had some of the same feelings. The icon of the feast shows their confusion and fear.

Back in January 2007 at Br Elias funeral, I spoke about our loss: “The reality of his departure from us will sink into each one at a different time and in a different way. In our house, we may have begun to get used to his absence over the past year since he was away most of the last 12 months in hospitals or rehabilitation centers, but still he was at the other end of the telephone, he was there when we visited him and he did fight to come back and be with us for a few weeks despite his deteriorating health. But after today, when we gather to pray in church, he won’t be there, when we gather around the table for meals, he won’t be there when we gather to relax in our recreation room, he won’t be there either. And we will know it and we will feel it and we will feel the emotion of that loss welling up inside and we will cry. And that’s ok. It’s grieving. It must be done. We must cry over the loss of Brother Elias even as we celebrate the life that was with us but is now with God.”

After the funeral, Fr Alexis Vinogradov came up to me and said that as Orthodox we understand that even though he died he is still with us. And I said that is well and good but what I meant was that physically he is no longer with us. But of course, when someone is no longer with us physically, still we do feel that person’s presence in other non-tangible but real ways. We can be reminded of the person’s humor at recreation, or of their cooking at meals or of their presence in church during services. They can return in dreams and at times we may simply feel their presence in the room even though physically they are not there. This is the mystery that Vino was talking about and it is at the center of this feast. Indeed, the beginning and end of the paschal season is marked by this mystery. At Pascha Christ returns from the dead, only to depart again at the Ascension. Remember at the beginning of the paschal season Christ told the apostle Thomas, blessed are they who have not seen and yet believe. And here at the Ascension, Christ is telling the apostles that he will not leave them orphans, he will send them the holy spirit; even as he disappears from their sight. So this leaves them and us with the call to believe in something we cannot see. And we are asked to do this at the very time that we feel abandoned.

This feast is about more than Jesus and the Holy Spirit. It is about our connection to that realm into which we will all pass. The Ascension is both separation and preparation. We are being prepared to receive the unseeable Holy Spirit. The Spirit that is God’s presence everywhere, in all things and in all living beings. That spirit is in every one of us. That spirit is what carries us to Jesus, to the realm beyond this physical world. The icon of Holy Wisdom behind the altar has the mandorla, the image of uncreated light and the passageway to the realm of Kairos time. The same mandorla is depicted in the Ascension icon on display in the narthex. In that icon, Christ, though further removed from us in the image, is at the opening created by the mandorla, going before us preparing the way as he said he would. The Spirit moves between both Chronos time [the time ticking in our present physical world] and Kairos time [the realm of timelessness] and is the conveyance that brings us God’s presence and indeed the presence of all those who have gone before us and ultimately conveys us to God.

So how does this feast help us to deal with abandonment, [separation, broken connections, departures]? By reminding us that no one is abandoned or lost. Not only does God remember all but God brings all together. We experience that reality every time we feel God’s presence and indeed the presence of others. The laws of the physical world may rearrange the pieces of this earthly puzzle, but in that realm beyond our reach, all the pieces are put back together as the fulfillment of God’s plan. No one is lost. No one is left abandoned.



Christ is in our midst!