Ascending on the Path

Today we are celebrating the Ascension of Jesus Christ from earth to Heaven.

At the conclusion of my last homily, the 3rd Sunday after Easter, I asked that we set our affection on things above,” just as God sets His affection on all creatures here below. In the Holy Communion, we should strive consciously to make our lives here below like the life which is above, just as we pray each Sunday in the Lord’s Prayer that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

In the mystical union of the Eucharist, we experience the flow of energy from below to above, and from above to below. The Angel of the Presence extends the love of Christ to us here below, and our devotion and aspirations ascend to Him in Heaven.

At the Ascension of Jesus, as told in the book of Acts, the disciples watched as “He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; who also said: Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” This was to fulfill the saying, “What goes up must come down.”

The Ascension of Christ was not the spectacle of what went up, but the promise of what would come down, for before He ascended, Jesus said to His Apostles, “ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. And ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me…unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Likewise in Luke we are told that Christ said “Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” And so Thursday, on Ascension Day, we gathered here at St. Clement’s, and Deacon Wynn extinguished the Paschal candle, symbolic of Christ’s Ascension into Heaven, where He sits on the right hand of the Father. But this is not the end of the story, for on Whitsunday, the day of Pentecost, we will celebrate the power of the Holy Ghost coming down from Heaven to earth, according to the promise of Jesus.

And, not to jump ahead too much, but it is important to mention that this power of the Holy Ghost, as it descended on the crowd in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, was a power of unification. Just as men were scattered in olden times when the Tower of Babel was struck down, so at the Pentecost all men were drawn together, and understood each other as if they spoke in a common tongue.

The power of the Holy Ghost, which is sent from on High, is a power of unification, and the story of the Ascension is not the story of how Christ went up, but the of promise of what would come down.

Yet, it is important for each of us to ascend as well. In the Collect for today, we prayed that as Christ hath ascended into the heavens, we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with Him continually dwell. What does it mean for us to ascend? How can this have a practical application in our daily lives? Bishop Leadbeater once used the metaphor of all humanity ascending to the top a mountain, each by the path of his her own religion, but all leading to the same place. Whatever we might call it, be we Hindu or Christian or anything else, that place at the top of mountain is most certainly the place where the Living Christ resides, continually sending down His power. It is truly exciting to ascend to such a place, a place where all things are made new--but to ascend, we must first set foot on the path.

What does it mean to set foot on the path? If you are here in Church today, you have already set foot on the path. Many people today may be at home, worshipping as Father Tony says, Our Lady of the Mattress. And if you are not only here in body but also consciously participating in the Mass, bringing your attention and your intelligence to the proceedings at hand, then you are helping the Angels who are here at Mass this morning to do their work more smoothly and effectively.

But perhaps the best way to ascend on the path is to take Christ with us when we leave St. Clement’s today and spread His healing light over all the living creatures we encounter—over our enemies, our friends, our children, our pets, and whatever other living creatures we happen to think of or see. The world needs the love of Christ. And so may we ascend both in heart and mind to dwell with Christ, and may we become ministers of the Holy Ghost and instruments of unification in a divided realm, unto the uttermost parts of the earth.