Ascension Day

Today, Thursday, May 9, is Ascension Day. 

Most of us within the evangelical circle don’t pay much attention to this day. 

The account of Jesus' ascension is found in Acts 1:1-11. One moment Jesus was standing with and talking to his disciples. They can see him. They can hear his voice. And if they had reached out they could’ve touched him. The next minute, “he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” (Acts 1:9)

I have no idea how that happened. But I do believe it is true. 

The immediate context is the question of political power; "they gathered around him and asked him, 'Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?'" (Acts 1:6)

What are we to make of Jesus’ ascension? 

What does it mean for us and how we live? 

I think the ascension is about more than just reciting in the creeds “He ascended into heaven.”

More and more I am thinking that Jesus’ physical withdrawal from this world is less about his absence and more about our presence. 

One of my granddaughters is learning to ride her bike. I or her dad stand behind the bike, holding on to the seat or her waist, helping her balance. And then, as she gains confidence, we step away from the bike. To her it looks and feels like absence or distance. But from my perspective, I am making space for her to become a bit more herself. 

 

As Jesus ascends, 

two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? (Acts 1:10b-11a)

Their question implies that there is somewhere else to be looking.
Maybe it’s not a question to be answered.
Maybe it’s a call to step forward. 

What if Jesus is deflecting our eyes from him to our neighbour?

Maybe Jesus wants us to be living signposts to the kingdom of God.

Look at the gaps in our community today. 

For some, there is a gap between the life we are living and the one we want to live, 

the person we are and the person we want to be. 

For most of us, there is a gap between the world as it is today and the world we want to give our children and grandchildren. 

Every wound, loss, and broken heart is a gap waiting to be filled. 

Injustice is a gap that is swallowing up lives. 

Hunger, poverty, homelessness, loneliness, racism, and violence are gaps asking for our presence. Broken relationships are gaps asking for someone to step in.

What gaps do you see in your life and Orillia today? 

Some gaps are individual and personal. 

Others are communal and shared. 

Who is falling through and getting lost in the gaps?

Whatever the gaps in our lives and community might be today, we have a choice to make. 

We can keep looking up toward heaven, toward that which is unseen and intangible, or we can turn our eyes to our neighbour who is visible, reach out our hands to the tangible circumstances, step into the gap, and do something.

I wonder what stepping into the gap means and looks like for you today. 

What keeps you from stepping into the gap? 

What holds you back?

What keeps you stuck? 

And what would it take to step into the gap today?