June 1 2025 Sermon
We have just heard 4 beautiful passages of scripture, chosen for this celebration of the Ascension of Jesus the Christ. The Ascension of our Lord is rich with meaning and lessons for us who follow the way of Jesus. The importance of the Ascension is reflected in our liturgy.
We profess our faith in the words of the Nicene creed – statement of faith drawn up by world-wide gathering of Christians 1700 years ago. In the words “Who for us all and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, And was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, And the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, And ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of the Father.” The creed puts the Ascension right up there with the Incarnation, Passion Death and Resurrection as core to who Jesus Christ is.
It is core because the Ascension attests to God’s faithfulness – what God has begun in the Incarnation, sending Jesus into the world, God completes as Jesus returns to God. This is crucial for us as we face our own mortality. It gives us hope, that God will in the end draw us to Godself. That our frail human nature is not an obstacle to union with God.
In essence, the altar in an Anglo-Catholic church is not merely a table; it is a sacred space where heaven and earth meet, where Christ’s saving sacrifice is made present, and where the faithful encounter the living God. It is, in a very real sense, considered the “throne” from which Christ dispenses His grace and blessing to His people.
We join with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven in singing his praises Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts, Heaven and earth are full of thy glory.
The Lamb of God, who dwells in heaven comes to us in bread and wine to dwell in us. As we kneel at the altar rail we are at the threshold of heaven, devoutly and reverently receiving the Eucharist, coming together of the human and the divine.
The Ascension attests that Jesus, in ascending into heaven, has not gone “up, up, and away” to passively wait until his return. Rather, Jesus has gone to the very dwelling place of God to direct operations more fully here on earth and across the entire cosmos. No longer restricted to time and space as he was in his short time on earth, Jesus continues God’s mission now, in part through the church. When Christians profess “Jesus is Lord.” They were making a profound statement that not only those who profess him as Lord, but also all powers in heaven and on earth are subjected to him.
The Ascension reassures us that by his recognizance, – that is his having fully experienced the joys and sorrows, the pains and glories of a fully human life, Jesus is perfectly positioned as our eternal guide for living our lives. He remains, even in heaven, fully human and fully divine. And so, he serves not just a guide that we look toward as an example but also the source of blessing and power essential for carrying out God’s mission – a mission that will see all of creation restored to right relationship with God.
At the end of the Mass we are given God’s blessing and sent into the world to love and serve the ascended Lord. At the Ascension of Jesus, his followers had a choice to make, they could go their separate ways grateful for what they had seen, or they could go united in anticipation of all the ascended Lord would work in and through them. We too have that choice.
This community has committed itself to serve in the Lords Mission, MAP, Pentecost. MAP 2.0, next Sunday on the Feast of Pentecost we celebrate the coming of the Spirt to the church, a guide and source divine power. We will take up the blessing and the call to mission and consider what our next steps will be. Please take this handout home with you. Prayerfully consider what we have done and with the inspiration of the Spirit imagine what initiatives lie before us and we continue in service to the risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ.