Last Thursday was the Celebration of the Ascension in the liturgical year, which is the 40th day after Easter when the Ascension of Christ is acknowledged.
The Ascension used to be read in a way that localized Jesus and God above the earth. The ancient and medieval Church believed that heaven was literally located in a dome above the earth, and that the story recorded in the gospels of Jesus being "taken up" meant that Jesus was returning to an actual physical location above the earth.
The significance of the Ascension is much deeper and significant than that. What the story reveals is God's omnipresence and Christ's omnipresence--that the power of God as revealed in Christ cannot be limited to the earth, nor can it be limited in heaven. Through modern technology, we have explored the skies, and there is no dome of heaven where the medieval Church thought it was. Rather than seeing this as a challenge to our theology, we should recognize it as an affirmation of God's omnipotence and omnipresence. God's presence cannot be limited or localized, and God remains revealed on earth as God was revealed on earth in Christ.
Our role as disciples is not to perceive the earth as a place where God is not present, with our goal being to escape to where God is fully present, but rather, to see that God is here with us now, and that we can, through God's power, make God's Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
Supporting the work and mission of Caney Spring United Methodist Church and Berlin United Methodist Church, two churches partnered in the ministry of making disciples of Christ for the transformation of the world, located in Marshall County, Tennessee.
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