We just rushed by the most neglected day of the Church’s year: the “Ascension”, forty days after Easter when the risen Christ left the earth and went to heaven.
Part of the problem: the original event happened on a Thursday. Churches don’t gather to take notice until the Sunday afterward.
Another issue: Jesus lifting off without benefit of propellers or jets just sounds far-fetched.
Christians today rarely give it a thought. As proof I think back to seminary when my fellow Presbyterians were given an ordination examination question on the ascension. I don’t know the stats, but if campus buzz can be trusted they were failing in droves.
It is right there in the Bible — check out Acts 1:6-11.
Christians of earlier centuries found it important enough to put it in the Apostles’ Creed — and so lots of us say we believe it every week in worship.
What are we supposed to make of this story?
The Heidelberg Catechism (the 450 year old summary of biblical Christianity about which I relentlessly blog) explores this question in a characteristic way:
49 Q. How does Christ’s ascension to heaven benefit us?”
Notice that the Catechism assumes that every bit of Christian teaching is there to help us in some way. It is not just biblical facts to memorize. God did and said things in Scripture to teach us things that matter.
So how does this counterintuitive and rather odd scene in Scripture and doctrine help us? Heidelberg says there are three ways:
A. First, he is our advocate in heaven in the presence of his Father.”
Jesus ascended to heaven. Several passages of Scripture tell us what he is doing now that he is there: He is interceding for us, advocating on our behalf (1 John 2:1-2, Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25). That’s a helpful bit of news. He may not be here on the scene, but he has gone where he can influence everything that affects us.
Second, we have our own flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that Christ our head will also take us, his members, up to himself.”
Jesus enters heaven as a kind of down-payment. At birth Jesus took our flesh. We are joined to Christ in faith and baptism, so that we who were careening toward death are now joined to life. Now the One who claimed our flesh and to whom we are joined has gone into heaven — and this embodies a promise that he will pull the rest of us up there too.
Third, he sends his Spirit to us on earth as a corresponding pledge.”
The down-payment goes the other direction too. In the upper room Jesus tried to make the case that it was to our advantage that he was leaving — only if he left could he send the Holy Spirit. Now we have the Spirit, the first taste of inner connection to the life of God.
Actually the Catechism brings up a fourth benefit of the ascension:
By the Spirit’s power we seek not earthly things but the things above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.”
The ascension changes everything. With the Spirit within and Christ above we are reoriented. We no longer need to be obsessed with mundane matters. Now we lift our hearts and minds to seek Christ and all that he calls us to do and be.
I’d love to hear from you in the comments: What did your church make of the ascension this year? How has the ascension been important in your own experience of Christian faith?
We celebrated the Ascension this year and last year. We gathered for a meal and a simple worship service singing a couple of Ascension hymns, reading Scriptures pertaining to God’s promises and what is means that Jesus now reigns in power and prays for us. The service also included communion. I also referenced the Ascension in my sermon the following Sunday. The Affirmation of Faith used in the Thurs eve service was taken from the Heidelberg Catechism questions and answers about the Ascension.
Kathie, that’s fantastic! I’d be very curious if any conversations about the Ascension emerged from your efforts.
Kudos!
I preached about how we, too, stand around gazing at the sky waiting. How it’s time to start looking and working alongside Jesus where He would be found, amongst the poor, sick, dying, oppressed, etc. I charged all of us to pray for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on us and to mean it. Also challenged them to stop being complacent and apathetic, becoming bored and boring. Therefore to get ready to sacrifice, get our hands dirty and put our crash helmets on because we would be in for quite a ride! I also asked people to get up and talk to someone who wasn’t their good friend or family member and share a spiritual passion they have. Then we shared where we had seen God at work in the past week. I talked about laying to rest the ‘used to bes’ and joining the reality of our changing culture and world and how the church needs to catch up. We also celebrated communion. This week should be fun as we celebrate Pentecost.
Marian, thanks so much for sharing about this good work you are doing. Is your congregation familiar with focusing on Ascension, or is it new to them?
Pax.
We are from a variety of church backgrounds and many have not celebrated the Holy Days of the church calendar much. On the other hand those of us with strong Disciples of Christ teachings acknowledge that every day is a holy day.
I was going to ask you to elaborate on the phrase,”the things above”, mentioned in the catechism, Gary. Then I read Marian’s post, and concluded that it refers to the things below. Ah – the wonderful paradox!
Thanks, Sandra. I suspect the reference could go a number of ways.
For 16th century Reformed Christians, and especially Calvin, the emphasis was on attending to the presence of Christ — so in the Lord’s Supper, and in prayer, and in many other ways marking Calvin’s spiritual teaching, one is to “look up”, as opposed to looking down at the elements on the Table or on circumstances that seem so far from God’s intention.
There is also, though, a sense that it is about attending to the higher calling, living as citizens of heaven and by heaven’s priorities — and I think that’s what Marian is getting at.