The Lord's Ascension/ June 4th
nick cobb
There is a thrill of joy in the very word "ascension" that issues a
challenge, as it were, to the so-called "laws of nature," the
perpetually downward-leading, downward-pulling, and enslaving laws of
gravity, weight, falling. Here, in contrast, all is lightness, flight,
an endless soaring upward. The Lord's Ascension is celebrated forty
days
after Easter, on Thursday of the sixth week after the feast of
Christ's
Resurrection. On Wednesday, the day before, what in church practice is
known as the "leave-taking of Pascha" takes place, as if to say
farewell
to Easter. >From beginning to end the service is celebrated exactly as
it was on the night of Easter itself, with the singing of the same
joyful verses: "Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered...," "This
is the day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in
it..."
Chanting these verses, the priest holds the paschal candle and censes
the whole church, while "Christ is Risen" rings out in response. We
part
with Easter, we "take leave" for another year.
It seems that we should feel sad. But instead of sadness, we are sent
new joy: the joy of contemplating and celebrating the Ascension. In
the
gospel account of this event, after the Lord had given his final
instructions to the disciples, He "led them out as far as Bethany, and
lifting up his hands He blessed them. While he blessed them he parted
from them, and was carried into heaven. And they worshipped him, and
returned to Jerusalem with great joy...,, (Lk 24:50-52). "With great
joy..." What is the source of this great joy that endures to this day
and explodes with such remarkable brightness on the feast of
Ascension?
For it seems that Christ went away and left his disciples alone; it
was
a day of separation. Ahead of them lies the long, long road of
preaching, persecution, suffering, and temptation that fills to
overflowing the history of Christianity and the Church. The joy had
apparently come to an end, the joy of earthly and daily fellowship
with
Christ, the ved sixteen centuries ago. Speaking about heaven, he
exclaims: "What need do I have for heaven, when I myself will become
heaven..." Let the answer come from our ancestors, who called the
church
"heaven on earth." The essential point of both these answers is this:
heaven is the name of our authentic vocation as human beings, heaven
is
the final truth about the earth. No, heaven is not somewhere in outer
space beyond the planets, or in some unknown galaxy. Heaven is what
Christ gives back to us, what we lost through our sin and pride,
through
our earthly, exclusively earthly, sciences and ideologies, and now it
is
opened, offered, and returned to us by Christ. Heaven is the kingdom
of
eternal life, the kingdom of truth, goodness and beauty. Heaven is the
total spiritual transformation of human life; heaven is the kingdom of
God, victory over death, the triumph of love and care; heaven is the
fulfillment of that ultimate desire, about which it was said:
"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of
man, what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor 2:9). All of
this is revealed to us, all of this is given to us by Christ. And
therefore, heaven permeates our life here and now, the earth itself
becomes a reflection, a mirror image of heavenly beauty. Who descended
from heaven to earth to return heaven to us? God. Who ascended from
earth to heaven? The man Jesus.
St Athanasius the Great says that "God became man so that man could
become God." God came down to earth so that we might ascend to heaven!
This is what the Ascension celebrates! This is the source of its
brightness and unspeakable joy. If Christ is in heaven, and if we
believe in him and love him, then we also are there with him, at his
banquet, in his Kingdom. If humanity ascends through him, and does not
fall, then through him, I also have access to ascension and am called
to
him. And in him, the goal, meaning and ultimate joy of my life is
revealed to me. Everything, everything around us pulls us down. But I
look at the divine flesh ascending to heaven, at Christ going up "with
the sound of a trumpet," and I say to myself and to the world: here is
the truth about the world and humanity, here is the life to which God
calls us from all eternity.
Completing Your whole plan for us, Uniting earth to heaven, You
ascended
in glory, 0 Christ God, Not parting at all, But ever remaining, And
saying to those who love You: I am with you and no one will be against
you...
[Taken from, "Celebration of Faith" Sermons, Vol. 2, "The Church Year"
by the late Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, available at:
800-204-book.]
RVG
"nick cobb" <nick...@gmail.com> a écrit dans le message de groupe de
discussion :
22ae0673-5acb-43f1...@k13g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
> The Lord's Ascension
>
> There is a thrill of joy in the very word "ascension" that issues a
> challenge, as it were, to the so-called "laws of nature," the
> perpetually downward-leading, downward-pulling, and enslaving laws of
> gravity, weight, falling. Here, in contrast, all is lightness, flight,
> an endless soaring upward.
So, up to where did he fly ? Is he in perpetual orbit around the Earth ?
What does "up" mean once you're out of the Earth's orbit ?
After the Resurrection, I find more and more difficulties to believe in what
the Acts describe. It was written by people who believed that the Earth was
the centre of the universe and that the Sun and the Moon were luminaries.
People whose omniscient God didn't even know about America and Oceania, let
alone heliocentrism and the real age of the universe. Worse: they believed
when Jesus told them that he climbed a mountain and saw all the kingdoms of
the earth from there!
RVG
"nick cobb" <nick...@gmail.com> a écrit dans le message de groupe de
discussion :
22ae0673-5acb-43f1...@k13g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
> The Lord's Ascension
>
> There is a thrill of joy in the very word "ascension" that issues a
> challenge, as it were, to the so-called "laws of nature," the
> perpetually downward-leading, downward-pulling, and enslaving laws of
> gravity, weight, falling. Here, in contrast, all is lightness, flight,
> an endless soaring upward.
So, up to where did he fly ? Is he in perpetual orbit around the Earth ?
RVG
"nick cobb" <nick...@gmail.com> a écrit dans le message de groupe de
discussion :
22ae0673-5acb-43f1...@k13g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
> The Lord's Ascension
>
> There is a thrill of joy in the very word "ascension" that issues a
> challenge, as it were, to the so-called "laws of nature," the
> perpetually downward-leading, downward-pulling, and enslaving laws of
> gravity, weight, falling. Here, in contrast, all is lightness, flight,
> an endless soaring upward.
So, up to where did he fly ? Is he in perpetual orbit around the Earth ?
RVG
"nick cobb" <nick...@gmail.com> a écrit dans le message de groupe de
discussion :
22ae0673-5acb-43f1...@k13g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
> The Lord's Ascension
>
> There is a thrill of joy in the very word "ascension" that issues a
> challenge, as it were, to the so-called "laws of nature," the
> perpetually downward-leading, downward-pulling, and enslaving laws of
> gravity, weight, falling. Here, in contrast, all is lightness, flight,
> an endless soaring upward.
So, up to where did he fly ? Is he in perpetual orbit around the Earth ?
nick cobb
regulated by time, space or any physics of this world. Jesus Christ
entered into the spiritual realm, what we describe as Heaven. To those
present, apparently it looked as if He arose into the clouds.
On Jun 4, 9:33 am, "RVG" <r...@bluebubbleconspiracy.org> wrote:
> "nick cobb" <nickkc...@gmail.com> a écrit dans le message de groupe de
> discussion :
> 22ae0673-5acb-43f1-a1ba-f4838852c...@k13g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
James
RVG
"nick cobb" <nick...@gmail.com> a écrit dans le message de groupe de
discussion :
22ae0673-5acb-43f1...@k13g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
> The Lord's Ascension
>
> There is a thrill of joy in the very word "ascension" that issues a
> challenge, as it were, to the so-called "laws of nature," the
> perpetually downward-leading, downward-pulling, and enslaving laws of
> gravity, weight, falling. Here, in contrast, all is lightness, flight,
> an endless soaring upward.
So, up to where did he fly ? Is he in perpetual orbit around the Earth ?