Ascension 2022

Glory to Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters,

the gospel ends with incredible words which gives

witness to what we're doing right now. He blessed

them. He was parted from them. And he ascended

up into heaven. The church liturgy is a foretaste

of heaven. Yes, we get tired. We get distracted.

You know, we're not all there all the time. But

it's an entry into the kingdom of God as much

as we can approach it with God's help. And they

worshipped him. Which is what we're doing today.

When we gather, we come to worship him. And it

says they worshipped him. they went to Jerusalem

with great joy. They were not feeling as orphans,

bereft, lost, because they had seen Jesus, because

they heard what he said, you will be endued with

power from on high, the promise of the Father,

that is the Holy Spirit. And they were continually

in the temple, praising and blessing God. That's

what we're doing now. The gospel just continues

in us. In us, in this blessed community. And

St. Luke then continues the account in the book

of Acts. And he covers, as you heard in the epistle,

the same blessed event. Which we confess and

profess every morning when we say our prayers.

Every evening when we say our prayers. Of course,

the creed is part of those prayers. And he ascended

into heaven. And sits at the right hand of the

Father. And he shall come again with glory to

judge the living and the dead. And his kingdom

shall have no end. We celebrate that. Remember

that when you say your prayers in the morning.

That that ascension indicates a great implication

in your life. That God, the word of God, descended

from heaven. to meet us in our poverty, our weakness,

our sin, our death. He descended even unto death,

and we've been singing the last 40 days that

Kentucky, though thou is descended to the grave,

O immortal one. Did we hear that word? He ascended,

descended, and now is ascending again. He's at

the right hand of the Father. He is co -enthroned.

He is ruling. He is co -reigning. I think as

St. John Chrysostom said, our human nature is

shining on the king's throne, glistening with

glory and eternal beauty, man appearing in heaven.

I believe that's why the fresco of the Ascension

in churches with a barrel vault is over the altar.

It's where it is. We don't have a barrel vault,

so we have it where we have it. Human nature

is shining on the king's throne, which is this

altar table. By the way, and you know this, but

I'll say it anyway, we use the word ascend, the

gospel uses that word, and it uses the word cloud,

just like in the Old Testament in Exodus, the

cloud in which he was taken up, to describe this

movement of glorification, not some kind of blast

off into the atmosphere. His realm, our realm,

our home is with God. Our life is hid in Christ.

It takes some cleansing of the eyes. This is

why, just my opinion, the commemoration of the

healing of the blind man, which was last Sunday,

he could see Christ, and he worshipped Christ

at the end of that gospel. The other people,

they cut Christ down. They couldn't accept that.

But to celebrate this feast, to understand this

feast, to participate in this feast, we have

to have some cleansing done for our own eyes.

That's continual. So that we know that Christ

has not left us orphans, but he said, behold,

I am with you always, even to the end of the

age. All authority, he said, is given unto me

in heaven and on earth. All authority, all dominion,

all power in heaven and on earth. He says, go

ye therefore, make disciples of all the nations.

My only point today, really, brothers and sisters,

is to remind ourselves that there is no lack

of spiritual resources. To live as followers

and disciples of Christ. There's no lack. Our

approach to death is changed because of the ascension.

And notice I said our approach, not death approaching

us. No, we do like Christ. We come to death and

we will conquer it. There's no lack of holiness

as our foundational understanding for life in

this world. to be transfigured. You will be endued

with power from on high, the promise of the Father,

said Jesus. There's no lack for us to enter into

God's holiness as our foundational understanding

of who we are. God's holiness. The martyrs, the

apostles, the courage of those. There's no lack.

to gain courage from God. There's no lack of

joy that we may receive from God. They were in

the temple joyfully praising God. There's no

lack of love for others, which we don't have,

but God has. There's no lack of humility and

sacrificial giving that we can be inspired by

the holy and mercenary healers. Prayer. by the

holy monastic saints. Evangelism and missionary

life by the holy bishops. You see over here,

they're not just on the wall for us to like,

thank you. To sort of, you know, I don't know,

look at from afar. They're there to inspire us

in our own life to become like they are in our

particular situation. There's no lack of courage

that the blind man had. That can be given to

us. We read about last Sunday. We have resources

in the face of adversity and the denial of the

truth of things. We have the grace to pray and

to worship. Lo, I am with you always, our Savior

says. If a person takes seriously this Feast

of the Ascension, then... Our vision is not limited

to the ground, but it's lifted up and around

us in this world is also lifted up. Not because

we're so great. Not at all. It's because the

grace of God is given to us. It's a glorious

ascension. Listen to these words. I'll finish

these random thoughts with these words from the

prayers before communion. which I know you all

do before receiving. O thou, who by thy glorious

ascension disdeify the flesh that thou hast taken

upon thyself, and dishonor it by thy session

at the right hand of the Father, by my partaking

of the holy mysteries, make me worthy of the

portion of the saved at thy right hand. To the

Lord be glory now and ever, to ages of ages.

Glory to Jesus Christ.