WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.639
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

00:00:01.639 --> 00:00:05.919
of the Holy Spirit, I wish each of you a joyous

00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:16.699
and wonderful feast day. Nice to see you. When

00:00:16.699 --> 00:00:21.500
I was young, and my father was a chaplain in

00:00:21.500 --> 00:00:27.460
the Air Force, we had liturgy basically once

00:00:27.460 --> 00:00:31.320
a week. have the chapel available for vespers

00:00:31.320 --> 00:00:35.280
on Saturday and if we had a feast day we would

00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:38.640
go if there was one in the area to a local parish

00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:43.700
to celebrate with them. Usually it was a Greek

00:00:43.700 --> 00:00:47.560
parish and everything was in Greek. But in our

00:00:47.560 --> 00:00:54.960
base chapel it was very plain you know churchly

00:00:54.960 --> 00:00:57.619
looking. Well, not churchly. The only reason

00:00:57.619 --> 00:00:59.340
you could tell it was a church is because it

00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:03.000
had pews, really. It was a very plain building.

00:01:03.179 --> 00:01:05.840
I think many of you probably have been in such

00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:12.079
places before you became Orthodox. We had our

00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:15.140
vestments and we'd set up the icons for liturgy.

00:01:15.959 --> 00:01:18.859
And, you know, we did a regular divine liturgy.

00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:23.030
But it would have never occurred to me. To be

00:01:23.030 --> 00:01:27.370
able to explain to anyone why we had vestments,

00:01:27.489 --> 00:01:33.909
why we had icons, I had an assumption that the

00:01:33.909 --> 00:01:36.230
resurrection was important and we had Pascha,

00:01:36.329 --> 00:01:39.430
of course, we had Holy Week, but I would have

00:01:39.430 --> 00:01:45.689
never thought that it was about the body, the

00:01:45.689 --> 00:01:49.750
actual body being raised from the dead. I would

00:01:49.750 --> 00:01:54.099
have assumed that heaven, was the spiritual reality

00:01:54.099 --> 00:01:57.140
which we would all go to, and that the Ascension,

00:01:57.140 --> 00:02:01.319
therefore, had no impact in my life. It made

00:02:01.319 --> 00:02:03.920
no sense if I had thought about it, which I did

00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:07.719
not. There was many assumptions, and I think

00:02:07.719 --> 00:02:13.080
most, many, many of our non -Orthodox brothers

00:02:13.080 --> 00:02:15.960
and sisters have this assumption about the spiritual

00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:19.780
life, and then we're here on earth. But it's...

00:02:20.060 --> 00:02:24.879
really got nothing to do with heaven. But here

00:02:24.879 --> 00:02:29.740
in the church, we realize when we read this,

00:02:29.860 --> 00:02:34.580
Jesus stood in the midst of them, in the midst

00:02:34.580 --> 00:02:37.840
of the apostles. He stood not only physically

00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:40.580
in their midst, but in their hearts and their

00:02:40.580 --> 00:02:44.120
minds, their souls. And this is why in the church

00:02:44.120 --> 00:02:47.419
we say, the clergy say, Christ is in our midst

00:02:47.419 --> 00:02:50.800
because it's a real thing. It's so real that

00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:55.879
the Lord said, look at my wounds. And he said,

00:02:55.939 --> 00:02:59.879
do you have anything to eat? Not that he needed

00:02:59.879 --> 00:03:05.599
food because the divinity and humanity joined

00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:10.740
in this glorified post -resurrectional body doesn't

00:03:10.740 --> 00:03:14.620
need food to be sustained. But he wanted to show

00:03:14.620 --> 00:03:17.879
them, yes, it is about the sanctification of

00:03:17.879 --> 00:03:22.000
everything. So we wear vestments because Christ

00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:27.199
stands in our midst. And he is the one clothed

00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:32.159
in majesty. The Lord is clothed in glory. He

00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:34.919
sits at the right hand of the Father in the body

00:03:34.919 --> 00:03:39.240
that he had after the resurrection. Our human

00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:45.580
nature is at the right hand. of the Father. Let

00:03:45.580 --> 00:03:48.699
me read to you just a few pages, a few paragraphs,

00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:52.060
excuse me, from Father Alexander Schmemann's

00:03:52.060 --> 00:03:57.099
sermon to Radio Free America years and years

00:03:57.099 --> 00:04:01.539
ago. The church is not celebrating Christ's departure.

00:04:02.919 --> 00:04:05.419
It says that the apostles returned to Jerusalem

00:04:05.419 --> 00:04:10.610
with great joy. Christ said, I am with you always,

00:04:10.669 --> 00:04:15.150
even unto the end of the age. The entire joy

00:04:15.150 --> 00:04:18.089
of Christian faith is in the awareness of his

00:04:18.089 --> 00:04:21.470
presence. That's what all this means. It's a

00:04:21.470 --> 00:04:24.449
sign of that. Just as he promised, where two

00:04:24.449 --> 00:04:27.170
or three are gathered in my name, there I am

00:04:27.170 --> 00:04:29.829
in the midst of them. We celebrate not Christ's

00:04:29.829 --> 00:04:35.209
departure, but his ascension into heaven. St.

00:04:35.290 --> 00:04:40.300
John Chrysostom says, what need? do I have for

00:04:40.300 --> 00:04:47.300
heaven when I myself will become heaven? Father

00:04:47.300 --> 00:04:50.040
Alexander says, let the answer come from our

00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:52.860
ancestors who called the church heaven on earth.

00:04:53.079 --> 00:04:56.620
The essential point of this, heaven is the name

00:04:56.620 --> 00:05:02.860
of our authentic vocation as human beings. That

00:05:02.860 --> 00:05:07.990
the world and the kingdom of God are united.

00:05:08.170 --> 00:05:11.189
Heaven is the final truth about earth. No heaven

00:05:11.189 --> 00:05:14.389
is not somewhere in outer space behind planets

00:05:14.389 --> 00:05:18.209
or in some unknown galaxy. Heaven is what Christ

00:05:18.209 --> 00:05:21.490
gives back to us, what we lost through our sin

00:05:21.490 --> 00:05:25.329
and pride, through our earthly, exclusively earthly,

00:05:25.649 --> 00:05:30.829
and now sciences and ideologies, and now it is

00:05:30.829 --> 00:05:35.180
opened, offered. returned to us by Christ. Heaven

00:05:35.180 --> 00:05:37.939
is the kingdom of eternal life, the kingdom of

00:05:37.939 --> 00:05:41.000
truth, goodness, and beauty. Heaven is the total

00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:44.980
spiritual transformation of earthly and human

00:05:44.980 --> 00:05:48.519
life. Heaven is the kingdom of God, victory over

00:05:48.519 --> 00:05:51.439
death, the victory and the triumph of love and

00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:54.160
care. Heaven is the fulfillment of that ultimate

00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:58.160
desire about which it is said, eye has not seen

00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:02.620
nor ear heard. nor has it entered into the heart

00:06:02.620 --> 00:06:05.699
of man what God has prepared for those who love

00:06:05.699 --> 00:06:10.439
him. All of this is revealed to us. All of this

00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:13.800
is given to us by Christ. And therefore, heaven

00:06:13.800 --> 00:06:17.879
on this day, ascension, permeates our life here

00:06:17.879 --> 00:06:21.279
and now. The earth itself becomes a reflection,

00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:26.720
a mirror image of heavenly beauty. Who descended

00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:29.319
from heaven to earth to return heaven to us?

00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:33.899
God. Who ascended from earth to heaven? The man

00:06:33.899 --> 00:06:37.800
Jesus. St. Athanasius the Great said these famous

00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:41.959
words. God became man so that man could become

00:06:41.959 --> 00:06:46.040
God by grace. God came down to earth that we

00:06:46.040 --> 00:06:48.319
might ascend to heaven. This is what the ascension

00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:50.459
celebrates. This is the source of its brightness

00:06:50.459 --> 00:06:58.660
and unspeakable joy. When St. John the theologian

00:06:59.980 --> 00:07:05.319
Had the vision of heaven. The book of Revelation.

00:07:06.100 --> 00:07:10.480
He spoke about the throne. And one like the son

00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:12.899
of man taking the words from the prophet Daniel.

00:07:13.100 --> 00:07:16.220
Sitting on the throne next to the father. And

00:07:16.220 --> 00:07:19.800
praise and glory being offered to him. The lamb

00:07:19.800 --> 00:07:26.839
slain before the foundation of the world. These

00:07:26.839 --> 00:07:31.300
words were written. As an encouragement to those

00:07:31.300 --> 00:07:34.579
who were suffering persecution. To those who

00:07:34.579 --> 00:07:37.519
were suffering being outcast from their communities.

00:07:38.600 --> 00:07:41.920
Violence and loneliness. They were an encouragement.

00:07:42.339 --> 00:07:47.079
When we hear the gospel, the victory, we can't

00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:51.660
think that Christ came to save my problems. He

00:07:51.660 --> 00:07:55.819
came to save us and all of us and this world.

00:07:57.389 --> 00:08:01.589
And St. John is telling them, there is one Lord.

00:08:01.689 --> 00:08:05.610
It's not Caesar. It's not a politician. It's

00:08:05.610 --> 00:08:10.029
not, oh, I don't know, some pandemic. It's not

00:08:10.029 --> 00:08:16.910
the war. It's Christ in heaven. He says, the

00:08:16.910 --> 00:08:20.149
Father has put all things into my power in heaven

00:08:20.149 --> 00:08:24.029
and on earth. Go ye therefore without fear and

00:08:24.029 --> 00:08:27.240
teach all of this to all people. baptizing them

00:08:27.240 --> 00:08:28.839
in the name of the Father and the Son and the

00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:32.200
Holy Spirit. And then he was lifted up into the

00:08:32.200 --> 00:08:36.539
cloud of glory. And so we still say Christ is

00:08:36.539 --> 00:08:40.000
in our midst because the Holy Spirit has been

00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:44.320
given to us. And so we exalt in the glory of

00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:47.919
this, not declaration, but a revelation of what

00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:51.940
heaven is and why we are standing in its midst,

00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:55.929
even now today, why we can say, for the peace

00:08:55.929 --> 00:08:59.070
from above and for the salvation of our souls

00:08:59.070 --> 00:09:01.649
let us pray to the lord amen