The Ultimate Zoom
Fr. Tony’s Midweek Message
May 12, 2021
“For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Col 3:3)
Tomorrow is Ascension Day, the glorious feast marking the end of the 40-day ministry of the resurrected Lord, and beginning the 10 day wait for “power from on high” when the Holy Spirit would descend upon the Church on Pentecost (the “50th day” festival). That is the timing at least according to the Book of Acts. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus ascends to heaven the evening of Easter (Luke 24:50), the same time when John’s Gospel places the coming of the Spirit by having Jesus himself breathe onto his disciples with the words, “receive the Holy Spirit.” Ascension and Pentecost mark the end of the Great Fifty Days of the Paschal celebration.
In one sense, the mystery of the Ascension means Christ departs from us and flies up into Heaven. Yet in another, Jesus in entering Heaven becomes present to us and all the world. No longer bound in space and time or limited to a single then and there, He now is in the heart of the great celestial dance and is available to all who turn to him in trust. His entire self is taken into Eternity, and our own humanity can now participate in Him, and in some ways we are with Him there. Doing Church by live-streaming and Zoom this last year and a half has taught us the power of being present while absent. The Ascension, where Jesus “zooms up” to heaven only to be closer to us, surpasses these technical tricks by far. Perhaps it is the Ultimate Zoom.
Church of England priest, poet, and scholar expert on the “Inklings” (C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and friends), Malcolm Guite wrote the following sonnet on Ascension Day tapping into several of these themes. It is from his book Sounding the Seasons (Canterbury Press).
We
saw his light break through the cloud of glory
Whilst we were rooted still in time and place
As earth became a part of Heaven’s story
And heaven opened to his human face.
We saw him go and yet we were not parted
He took us with him to the heart of things
The heart that broke for all the broken-hearted
Is whole and Heaven-centred now, and sings,
Sings in the strength that rises out of weakness,
Sings through the clouds that veil him from our sight,
Whilst we our selves become his clouds of witness
And sing the waning darkness into light,
His light in us, and ours in him concealed,
Which all creation waits to see revealed.
Grace and Peace. Fr. Tony+
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