Thurs, May 18, 2023
Ascension
The Rev. Anne Williamson
Today we celebrate the feast of the Ascension. We read the story of Jesus’ Ascension into heaven, 40 days after the Resurrection, at the very end of Luke’s Gospel (Luke 24:50-53) and also at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:6-11). We see in the first chapter of Acts a change of heart, an embracing of hope, on the part of the followers of Jesus. Their whole demeanor is transformed: those who had cowered behind locked doors are emboldened as they hear the promises of Jesus: – ‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ And these followers of Jesus respond by devoting themselves to prayer in anticipation of the fulfilling of the promise – prayer is their response to both the anticipation and the uncertainty of their moment.
I love Malcolm Guite’s Sonnet for Ascension because it captures the paradox of the now and the not yet, the anticipation and the uncertainty of this time between the Feast of the Ascension today and Pentecost which we will celebrate Sunday, May 28. Anticipation and uncertainty – a tension we are so familiar with in our time…how are we to respond? I think we are called to prayer just as the first disciples were called to prayer in times that were uncertain but filled with hope and possibility.
Sonnet for Ascension
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 ourselves 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 .
From Sounding the Seasons by the Rev. Dr. Malcolm Guite
Singing the darkness into light, shining the light of Christ’s love, is a big work, but one that we are promised we will be equipped for. We are promised the gift of the Holy Spirit who will be alongside us on the journey, giving us power and strength for the tasks ahead. Come Holy Spirit.