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A sermon preached in Salisbury Cathedral by Canon Mark Bonney on 13 May 2010
"ASCENSION DAY"
“Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures” (Luke 24:45)
Until moving to Salisbury I used to go fairly frequently the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham – apart from the fact that it’s now a very long way away from here, another reason I haven’t gone there is, that although I value the style of worship offered, I feel increasingly uncomfortable with their view on the ordination of women. However, it remains an extraordinary and powerful place. Equally extraordinary, though for a different reason is the small chapel in the Shrine Church just to the southeast of the high altar. It’s low ceiling is no more than 7ft high – it’s the chapel of the Ascension- a tiny chapel with a circle of fluffy plaster clouds on the ceiling and pair of feet sticking out of them. It is quite simply very funny – and makes the Ascension seem unreal. Ascension Day used to be one of those holiday kind of days- but far gone are the days that my mother reminds me of when at the beginning of her teaching career in St Albans, she took the children to a Eucharist in the Abbey and then they had the rest of the day off.
The scriptures paint an interesting picture of what we’re celebrating today- and our minds probably need a little opening in order to appreciate them. There’s no mention of the Ascension in Mark’s gospel; Matthew has Jesus appearing to the eleven on the top of a mountain and telling them to baptize everyone – and it happens on the same day as the resurrection – and doesn’t tell us what happened to Jesus then. John has no mention of the Ascension. Luke’s gospel has more resurrection appearances than the others and these culminate with the gospel we heard this evening and like Matthew it appears to be on the same day as the resurrection. It is only in Acts that there’s mention of the 40days that’s become enshrined in our liturgical calendar.
As is often the case the gospel writers are making point about the person of Jesus and not describing what you would have seen if you’d been there. We have to use words to describe the indescribable – but to be over literal about them is so often to miss the point..
The message, the truth of the Ascension is nothing to do with whether or not Jesus floated off the ground and disappeared into the clouds – it’s not about history it’s about now - it’s about the relationship between God and us – about God and us now.
Jesus was always challenging people to look again at how they perceived and conceived of God and themselves – and he continues to do so.. The Ascension reveals to us the amazing truth that humanity and divinity aren’t like oil and water – completely unmixable – but that in Christ one has been taken into the other and are now inseparably linked. Not a temporary coalition but an inseparable union for eternity.
This is symbolised in a small but important way at every Eucharist when a small amount of water is put with the wine – that isn’t done to water it down – or to make sure that whoever finishes it off doesn’t have too much alcohol. When I add water to the chalice I always use the words “by the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in Christ’s divinity who humbled himself to share in our humanity”. In Christ humanity and divinity have come together never to be separated. Our call is to be Christ-like too- there is a place for us all in God.
The message of the Ascension is also about how we view the world now. – it’s not about the absence of God or the absence of Christ- it’s not about Christ being whisked away – rather of God in Christ being inseparable from all of the world. It’s Christ’s liberation from all restrictions of time and place. During his earthly ministry Jesus could only be in one place at one time – if he was in Capernaum he wasn’t in Jerusalem and vice versa. But now he’s united with God he’s present wherever God is present – and that’s everywhere – the Ascension is the coming full circle of the Christmas message of Emmanuel – God with us. The reality is that, yes, there are times when we feel the absence of God rather than the presence of God – when the horrors of what we human beings can do to one another can tempt us to despair – sometimes we might feel as though we cling to the truth of God with us with our finger nails – but it’s the message we have to proclaim. One of scripture’s favourite refrains is “do not be afraid”. It was said to Mary at the beginning of Luke’s gospel and to Mary Magdalene at the resurrection – and in the Ascension the Christmas message of Emmanuel come full circle – God is with us wherever, whatever.
And it’s that God with us that we celebrate in this Eucharist – God’s presence focussed in the bread and wine – in this meal we are incorporated into the resurrection and ascension of Christ – and like the disciples at the end of the gospel may we then return to our homes and go to our places of work and play with ‘great joy’ - joy in the knowledge that all of life both in heaven and on earth is shot through with the grandeur of the one and only living God who is Father Son and Holy Spirit Amen.
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Until moving to Salisbury I used to go fairly frequently the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham – apart from the fact that it’s now a very long way away from here, another reason I haven’t gone there is, that although I value the style of worship offered, I feel increasingly uncomfortable with their view on the ordination of women. However, it remains an extraordinary and powerful place. Equally extraordinary, though for a different reason is the small chapel in the Shrine Church just to the southeast of the high altar. It’s low ceiling is no more than 7ft high – it’s the chapel of the Ascension- a tiny chapel with a circle of fluffy plaster clouds on the ceiling and pair of feet sticking out of them. It is quite simply very funny – and makes the Ascension seem unreal. Ascension Day used to be one of those holiday kind of days- but far gone are the days that my mother reminds me of when at the beginning of her teaching career in St Albans, she took the children to a Eucharist in the Abbey and then they had the rest of the day off.
The scriptures paint an interesting picture of what we’re celebrating today- and our minds probably need a little opening in order to appreciate them. There’s no mention of the Ascension in Mark’s gospel; Matthew has Jesus appearing to the eleven on the top of a mountain and telling them to baptize everyone – and it happens on the same day as the resurrection – and doesn’t tell us what happened to Jesus then. John has no mention of the Ascension. Luke’s gospel has more resurrection appearances than the others and these culminate with the gospel we heard this evening and like Matthew it appears to be on the same day as the resurrection. It is only in Acts that there’s mention of the 40days that’s become enshrined in our liturgical calendar.
As is often the case the gospel writers are making point about the person of Jesus and not describing what you would have seen if you’d been there. We have to use words to describe the indescribable – but to be over literal about them is so often to miss the point..
The message, the truth of the Ascension is nothing to do with whether or not Jesus floated off the ground and disappeared into the clouds – it’s not about history it’s about now - it’s about the relationship between God and us – about God and us now.
Jesus was always challenging people to look again at how they perceived and conceived of God and themselves – and he continues to do so.. The Ascension reveals to us the amazing truth that humanity and divinity aren’t like oil and water – completely unmixable – but that in Christ one has been taken into the other and are now inseparably linked. Not a temporary coalition but an inseparable union for eternity.
This is symbolised in a small but important way at every Eucharist when a small amount of water is put with the wine – that isn’t done to water it down – or to make sure that whoever finishes it off doesn’t have too much alcohol. When I add water to the chalice I always use the words “by the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in Christ’s divinity who humbled himself to share in our humanity”. In Christ humanity and divinity have come together never to be separated. Our call is to be Christ-like too- there is a place for us all in God.
The message of the Ascension is also about how we view the world now. – it’s not about the absence of God or the absence of Christ- it’s not about Christ being whisked away – rather of God in Christ being inseparable from all of the world. It’s Christ’s liberation from all restrictions of time and place. During his earthly ministry Jesus could only be in one place at one time – if he was in Capernaum he wasn’t in Jerusalem and vice versa. But now he’s united with God he’s present wherever God is present – and that’s everywhere – the Ascension is the coming full circle of the Christmas message of Emmanuel – God with us. The reality is that, yes, there are times when we feel the absence of God rather than the presence of God – when the horrors of what we human beings can do to one another can tempt us to despair – sometimes we might feel as though we cling to the truth of God with us with our finger nails – but it’s the message we have to proclaim. One of scripture’s favourite refrains is “do not be afraid”. It was said to Mary at the beginning of Luke’s gospel and to Mary Magdalene at the resurrection – and in the Ascension the Christmas message of Emmanuel come full circle – God is with us wherever, whatever.
And it’s that God with us that we celebrate in this Eucharist – God’s presence focussed in the bread and wine – in this meal we are incorporated into the resurrection and ascension of Christ – and like the disciples at the end of the gospel may we then return to our homes and go to our places of work and play with ‘great joy’ - joy in the knowledge that all of life both in heaven and on earth is shot through with the grandeur of the one and only living God who is Father Son and Holy Spirit Amen.