Almighty God, whose blessed Son our Savior Jesus Christ ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things: Mercifully give us faith to perceive that, according to his promise, he abides with his Church on earth, even to the end of the ages. – Collect for Ascension Day
Tomorrow is Ascension Day, forty days after Easter, and the day the Church commemorates the return of Jesus, Son of God, to that spiritual plane of heaven where he sits at the Father's right hand. As Hymn 214 states, “Hail the day that sees him rise, glorious to his native skies; Christ, awhile to mortals given, enters now the highest heaven!”
The window in the North Transept depicts the Ascension with Jesus on a cloud as he rises from the green, earthly realm to the blue, heavenly realm.
We could look at this event as the time Jesus, trusting that his work on earth was complete, left us to follow in his footsteps. That is certainly one way to view it – that it is now up to us to love our neighbor as God loves us, that it is up to us to proclaim the Good News, that it is up to us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, restore sight to the blind, and proclaim release to the captives, that it is up to us to work to reconcile all people to God through Jesus Christ.
On my Twitter feed someone had a discussion asking about holiness. They said that, for them, holiness and being holy was about following rules, but now didn't quite know what it meant. I answered that, for me, holiness resonated with space. As in, where is it that I am present with God? Where is it I am at peace? Holiness isn't about rules, but about finding the presence of God.
That thought came back to me as I read the above Collect. Yes, Jesus has left us. Yes, Jesus now resides far above all heavens. But let us have the faith to perceive that he abides with his Church on earth through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
If I'm right that holiness isn't about following rules but about finding the space (or spaces) where we are fully present with God, how might we look for more spaces to be more present with God? In other words, are there places other than the holy space that is Saint John's where we can be present with God? The answer, of course, is Yes. But a good follow up to that question might be, “Are we actively looking for those spaces?”
As the Collect implies, may we have the faith to perceive the holy presence of God with us.
Blessings,
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