The Sunday after Ascension Day, 24 May 20 - churches closed
When somebody close to us leaves us, we are still keenly aware of their presence: the son or daughter leaving home; the partner who has died. Although someone is absent from us, we still feel a close connection: think of the family members and friends who we’re distanced from at the moment but who we hear on the telephone, or see on Facetime, Zoom or Skype. Making these calls, I wonder if you’ve felt the tension of feeling both connected, and at the same time somehow also distanced from each other: this sense of apartness exacerbated because whilst you can see and hear each other, you cannot touch, or hold. For reasons such as these, the psychologists affirm what those of us know who have tried it: that video-conferencing is as stressful as it is helpful to us in these disconnected times. [1]
How closely this connects with the story of Jesus leaving us to be with his Father in heaven. For the Ascension teaches us how, although he has left us, he is more present to us now than ever. How can this be possible?
We can reach towards the answer by drawing on our own experiences. Remember when a loved one left home, perhaps a child leaving for their first job or to start at a university many miles away. You see them off, and as they disappear around the corner or their train pulls away from the platform, you are almost overwhelmed with a sense of their absence - the one you just held, hugged, kissed: suddenly gone.
And yet, almost simultaneously, and for a long while after, that loved one who is no longer with you, becomes as present to you as they've ever been. The bereaved have the same experience. You expect to turn and see your loved one in their favourite chair, or to sit with you as they always did at suppertime, you may find yourself very nearly pouring them a drink, preparing them a meal, because they are so much on your heart and mind, so much present to you in their absence.
Just as the bereaved know what this is all about, so do those freshly in love, for whom even an hour's separation from the object of their deepest desires and devotion sharpens their awareness of just how much that person means to them.
Notice how it is love which drives all of this - a love for the other which has forged a connection stronger than time and space can sever. This is just what Jesus’ Ascension is about. Our awareness of Jesus Christ can be sharpened, even in his absence; that sense of just how much Jesus Christ means to us, though he’s not tangibly here. Why? Because of the love which he and the Father have for us, which spills back out from our hearts in those moments we devote to remembering him.
It is the Spirit of God which helps us to know Jesus, present to us in his physical absence. This Spirit is a gift the Father gives us, a real presence who can help us open our senses to a Jesus who can be increasingly present to us now than ever before. Though he is absent from us physically we can find Jesus in the here and now, helping us daily navigate our way through the ordinary stuff of life.
The presence of God is revealed in the everyday. ‘Why are you gazing into heaven?’ asked the two men dressed in white. It’s here on earth you’ll find Jesus now, here in this place, just where you are - where, if you wait with an open heart, the Spirit will come to you to show you God’s way.
Notes
[1] A version of sermons previously preached at Austwick, Ascension Day 2019, Little Budworth, Sunday after Ascension 2013, and St Cuthbert's Croxteth Park, Ascension Day 2008.
[2] Suzanne Degges-White, Dealing With Zoom Anxiety. Psychology Today, 13 April 2020.
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