Glory to Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters,
the gospel ends with incredible words which gives
witness to what we're doing right now. He blessed
them. He was parted from them. And he ascended
up into heaven. The church liturgy is a foretaste
of heaven. Yes, we get tired. We get distracted.
You know, we're not all there all the time. But
it's an entry into the kingdom of God as much
as we can approach it with God's help. And they
worshipped him. Which is what we're doing today.
When we gather, we come to worship him. And it
says they worshipped him. they went to Jerusalem
with great joy. They were not feeling as orphans,
bereft, lost, because they had seen Jesus, because
they heard what he said, you will be endued with
power from on high, the promise of the Father,
that is the Holy Spirit. And they were continually
in the temple, praising and blessing God. That's
what we're doing now. The gospel just continues
in us. In us, in this blessed community. And
St. Luke then continues the account in the book
of Acts. And he covers, as you heard in the epistle,
the same blessed event. Which we confess and
profess every morning when we say our prayers.
Every evening when we say our prayers. Of course,
the creed is part of those prayers. And he ascended
into heaven. And sits at the right hand of the
Father. And he shall come again with glory to
judge the living and the dead. And his kingdom
shall have no end. We celebrate that. Remember
that when you say your prayers in the morning.
That that ascension indicates a great implication
in your life. That God, the word of God, descended
from heaven. to meet us in our poverty, our weakness,
our sin, our death. He descended even unto death,
and we've been singing the last 40 days that
Kentucky, though thou is descended to the grave,
O immortal one. Did we hear that word? He ascended,
descended, and now is ascending again. He's at
the right hand of the Father. He is co -enthroned.
He is ruling. He is co -reigning. I think as
St. John Chrysostom said, our human nature is
shining on the king's throne, glistening with
glory and eternal beauty, man appearing in heaven.
I believe that's why the fresco of the Ascension
in churches with a barrel vault is over the altar.
It's where it is. We don't have a barrel vault,
so we have it where we have it. Human nature
is shining on the king's throne, which is this
altar table. By the way, and you know this, but
I'll say it anyway, we use the word ascend, the
gospel uses that word, and it uses the word cloud,
just like in the Old Testament in Exodus, the
cloud in which he was taken up, to describe this
movement of glorification, not some kind of blast
off into the atmosphere. His realm, our realm,
our home is with God. Our life is hid in Christ.
It takes some cleansing of the eyes. This is
why, just my opinion, the commemoration of the
healing of the blind man, which was last Sunday,
he could see Christ, and he worshipped Christ
at the end of that gospel. The other people,
they cut Christ down. They couldn't accept that.
But to celebrate this feast, to understand this
feast, to participate in this feast, we have
to have some cleansing done for our own eyes.
That's continual. So that we know that Christ
has not left us orphans, but he said, behold,
I am with you always, even to the end of the
age. All authority, he said, is given unto me
in heaven and on earth. All authority, all dominion,
all power in heaven and on earth. He says, go
ye therefore, make disciples of all the nations.
My only point today, really, brothers and sisters,
is to remind ourselves that there is no lack
of spiritual resources. To live as followers
and disciples of Christ. There's no lack. Our
approach to death is changed because of the ascension.
And notice I said our approach, not death approaching
us. No, we do like Christ. We come to death and
we will conquer it. There's no lack of holiness
as our foundational understanding for life in
this world. to be transfigured. You will be endued
with power from on high, the promise of the Father,
said Jesus. There's no lack for us to enter into
God's holiness as our foundational understanding
of who we are. God's holiness. The martyrs, the
apostles, the courage of those. There's no lack.
to gain courage from God. There's no lack of
joy that we may receive from God. They were in
the temple joyfully praising God. There's no
lack of love for others, which we don't have,
but God has. There's no lack of humility and
sacrificial giving that we can be inspired by
the holy and mercenary healers. Prayer. by the
holy monastic saints. Evangelism and missionary
life by the holy bishops. You see over here,
they're not just on the wall for us to like,
thank you. To sort of, you know, I don't know,
look at from afar. They're there to inspire us
in our own life to become like they are in our
particular situation. There's no lack of courage
that the blind man had. That can be given to
us. We read about last Sunday. We have resources
in the face of adversity and the denial of the
truth of things. We have the grace to pray and
to worship. Lo, I am with you always, our Savior
says. If a person takes seriously this Feast
of the Ascension, then... Our vision is not limited
to the ground, but it's lifted up and around
us in this world is also lifted up. Not because
we're so great. Not at all. It's because the
grace of God is given to us. It's a glorious
ascension. Listen to these words. I'll finish
these random thoughts with these words from the
prayers before communion. which I know you all
do before receiving. O thou, who by thy glorious
ascension disdeify the flesh that thou hast taken
upon thyself, and dishonor it by thy session
at the right hand of the Father, by my partaking
of the holy mysteries, make me worthy of the
portion of the saved at thy right hand. To the
Lord be glory now and ever, to ages of ages.
Glory to Jesus Christ.