Today is Ascension Sunday — a day when we celebrate the strange yet intriguing account of Christ’s ascension.
The story of the Ascension, therefore, plays a profound and pivotal role in the Gospel story, and in the story of the Church. Not only is it the story that concludes a few of the Gospels, but it is the story that opens the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. As such, it marks the moment when our attention is shifted from the life of Jesus to the life of the Church.
For those who pay attention to such things, Ascension Sunday is typically celebrated on the last Sunday in the church year before Pentecost Sunday.
And for good reason.
After all, what we will remember and celebrate on Pentecost, next week, is the coming of God’s Holy Spirit to the church. And the reason why the Holy Spirit was sent to dwell with and inspire the church was because Jesus was no longer physically present to dwell with us and inspire us.
Most of us do not pay a significant amount of attention to the story of the Ascension. In fact, in the liturgical tradition of the church, Ascension day is technically commemorated exactly 40 days after Easter, which was this past Thursday. You will be excused if this past Thursday came and went without any particular attention being paid to the fact that it was, in fact, Ascension day.
But our lack of significant focus on Ascension Day should not distract us from the incredibly important – and incredibly relevant – message, for us, that lies at the heart of the story of the Ascension. And, on this particular Sunday when we ordain and induct new elders, and welcome new members into this congregation, the importance and relevance of the Ascension cannot and should not be missed.
Consider.
The story of the Ascension occurs, as we all know, after Jesus life, death and resurrection. He had prepared, taught and commissioned his followers, and given them the mandate to go out into the world and continue his work of proclaiming good news, serving the poor, healing the sick, feeding the hungry in body and spirit, touching the untouchable, embracing the outcast, drawing the marginalized and the excluded back into community.
He had taught them all that they needed to know about forgiveness, grace, faith, compassion. He had even tried to give them the “Coles Notes??? version of everything that he was trying to convey to them – love God, and love your neighbour as yourself and you will accomplish what I am sending you to do. Of course, don’t forget that some of the “neighbours??? that I want you to love are your enemies.
But all that was in the past.
Now, it seemed, his time was drawing to an end.
But, they might have asked, how can you leave now? There is still a big world out there. There are still lots of people suffering without hope. There are still lots of people being crushed by oppression, by injustice, by poverty, by hunger. There are still lots of people suffering in all manner of physical, spiritual, mental and emotional ailments. Jesus — how can you leave now? You haven’t finished the job.
And his response? When I go, I will send a Spirit to be with you. But I don’t really have to be here anymore. In fact, the world does not really need me to be here any more.
And why?
Because I am sending you.
I am sending you to continue the work that I have started. And I am going to give you all the power, all the guidance, all the inspiration that you will ever need. I am giving you the same Spirit that inspired me so that you can go out into this world and bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives and good news to the poor, challenge the powerful and comfort those who mourn. I want you to start local – start in Jerusalem. But don’t stop there. Go to Judea. But don’t stop there. Then go to Samaria – I know that those Samaritans might make you feel a bit uncomfortable, but there are a few good ones who have some things to teach you. But don’t stop there. Keep going until you get to the very ends of the earth. In fact, keep going until you find yourselves in an old building on the corner of King and Simcoe in downtown Toronto.
But don’t stop there.
Find some people to help you with the work, with my work. Call them whatever you want – elders, church members, perhaps. But whatever you do, don’t let them forget that they are not just joining a congregation, or a club, or really, even some archaic old institution.
Rather, they are joining a movement. My movement. And it is a movement, a way, that forms community, and that community will not stop working until the end of time itself. Yes, they’ll get worried, every once in a while, about statistics and demographics and challenges like secularism and atheism and indifference. But don’t let them forget that they shouldn’t spend much time worrying – just keep seeking the kingdom of love, the kingdom of justice, the reign of peace – and everything else will fall into place. In fact, the gates of hell will not be able to stand against them.
But I’m on my way, said Jesus. My work here is done – now it’s your turn.
That’s why the Ascension is relevant to us. Because Jesus isn’t here anymore. But his Body is.
And you are that Body. You are the Body of Christ, and individually members of it. Some of you are called to exercise leadership, as elders, in this wondrous movement and its work, and to you, we simply say God bless you. You will be in our prayers as you demonstrate greatness through servanthood and as you fulfill the tasks and callings that the Ascended Christ is calling you to fulfill. Some of you are called to be members in the work of this congregation, partners in the ministry of this community, and to you, we simply say God bless you. Never forget that you are not joining a club, but a movement, and that you will find the deepest sense of fulfillment and meaning in this thing that we call “church membership??? insofar as you find ways to exercise the gifts and skills that the Ascended Christ has entrusted to you for the continuation of his ministry in this world.
And to you who are older members of this community, I would simply say this. God bless you. You have, and continue, to fashioned a place of great joy for many people – a place where the hungry are fed, the lonely often find embrace, the poor are respected, the powerful and the weak find grace, the sorrowing find comfort, the sinful experience forgiveness, the marginalized experience inclusion, and the despairing find hope.
But please, for the love of God, don’t stop now. Don’t stop here. We are here, the new and the old, ministers and elders, members and friends, newcomers and old-timers, the young and the old, for this purpose – to continue the work of our ascended Lord in this time, in this place.
Christ has risen. Christ has ascended.
But his Body is here to continue his work. And you are his Body.
Amen.
