Ascension

So, at the end of the season of Easter, we hear the story of Jesus’ ascension and wait for the celebration of Pentecost.

We’ve been hearing promises of the “coming” of the Holy Spirit in some of the readings we’ve had. But the Spirit, who is God, has always been present, so what are we waiting for?

The emerging church remembered the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and tried to make sense of what was happening from there. Was God still with them? What would become of them? What was the way ahead?

The story of the ascension reminds us that Jesus too is God. The journey “upwards” makes more sense in a world where heaven is understood as being above and the world of the dead as below; but the intention is clear: Jesus no longer lives in our world with us in the same way as he had. Yet we are not alone; nor are we left without direction and purpose.

The story reminds us that we have a role to play in God’s mission also. If Jesus was God incarnate, then we are called to be the body of Christ—to witness to Christ, to the message of Christ, and to live as Christ in the world. We don’t do that on our own, but in the power of the Holy Spirit who connects us with Jesus and with the one who sent Jesus, his “heavenly father”. The story of the ascension reminds us that we are enfolded into God’s mission in the world; into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus; and into the work of the Holy Spirit.

So, we remember and we celebrate that Jesus is God; and that God is with us in and through the work of the Spirit. We also hear our commissioning as the people of God who bear the mark of Christ for the sake of the whole of God’s creation.