There we were in our Sunday best, clutching our little globes, trying not to rattle them as Mrs Llewllyn talked about Christ rising up into heaven. Then she showing us a picture of children in various national costumes, including a boy and girl in our own 1950s fashions gazing upwards alongside folk in flowing robes, as we took our places besides the apostles. It was like our trying to put ourselves in the picture as we study the Ascension window, worshipping Christ as he rises out of reach, and wondering which one we are, or what it was like, what the Risen Chirst really looked like, what heaven is like and where it is. That’s what puzzled me and must have bothered our teacher who had no easy answer when I held up my little globe, and asked where heaven is because if Jesus rose up from the Holy Land that would send him upside down from Australia.
Don’t be stupid you silly girl! she shouted – words that still sting and ring in my ears. I had no answer except for her anger and a clout on the head with a Bible, teaching me that hitting people over the head with scripture doesn’t work. Little did Mrs Llewllyn know, I wasn’t larking about, being silly, stupid, or trying to be clever – just curious. So that marked the start a life-long quest for the answers on a spiritual journey we share with folk of other faiths as we all search for meaning and answers, for wisdom, peace and joy. Today marks a milestone on the particular spiritual path we Christians follow, a major milestone meant to encourage us and point towards a truth that can lift our spirits and give us hope – but it is a stumbling block for some people. The truth is while nobody saw Jesus actually rise from the dead, just the empty tomb, witnesses who encountered the Risen Christ testify that before he disappeared into heaven he helped them understand how his suffering and rising again is the pattern that offers new life, the eternal pattern of redemption that scripture refers to in a variety of ways like God rescuing captives, restoring hope and faith, raising cities and societies from their ruins – the pattern that Christ’s followers can relate to in how God’s love, and forgiveness when necessary, has helped them survive the ups and downs, to rise above disappointment or failure, or rebuild their lives after heartbreak and loss.
So here we are, at the Ascension milestone. Some of us have taken a few detours or struggled to get this far. No matter, just relax and let your mind roam back over the road that brought you to this point – the questions you have already answered to your satisfaction by study, reason and faith, as well as the questions that still puzzle or intrigue you, beckoning you onward, begging for answers that may take a long time to answer. That’s OK, we have the whole of eternity to find out, and in the meantime we have the Gospels as guidebooks on the road.
It may feel like we keep going round in circles passing the same markers like Christmas and Easter, yet things change, we change, so we approach them differently. Our perspective alters with life’s ups and downs, and so do the answers we find or seek. Ascension always makes me wonder about heaven as the passing of time, passing of people I’ve known and different situations test my understanding. The joys, sorrows and how much of life’s course left to run have shaped my view about heaven, the kingdom of heaven, what it is, where it is, how we can find it and get there – how Christ got there. I believe he’d been there before thro’ prayer and his intimate connection with God whose constant love he shared with people he met, but we’re also told the Risen Christ was carried into heaven lifted above all other authorities. Writers and artists have depicted this as a hierarchy of people and powers on a stairway to heaven up there somewhere above the clouds or beyond our imagination. Maybe the apostles, like many mystics and prophets were blessed with a heavenly vision, or experienced a moment of such profound insight, finally understanding what Jesus had explained to them before, that his being taken from them in one way didn’t diminish his significance but prepared them for the arrival of his Holy Spirit and growing influence of Christ’s love on their lives. Hence their joy and compelling witness to what Christ meant and did for them.
Besides their testimony, we have 2000 years of tradition or travellers’ tales to help us on our journey of faith – stories about the saints of old and those in our midst who continue Christ’s work, the great mystics and each of us who knows the mystery of faith by sharing in Christ’s resurrection and accepting the offer of new life as often as we need. Maybe that’s why it seems cyclic, or more like a spiral perhaps, growing every closer to Christ, because despite seeing more of life and learning more, here we are again at the Ascension. There have been no experiences like Luke described or visions this last go around, not for me anyway – but more a growing feeling that heaven is exactly where Jesus once described it, not just very near, but inside us too. That doesn’t deny its presence elsewhere in the world, or the cosmos, after all we are all part of God’s creation, capable of imparting Christ’s presence thro what we know of his life, his love and teaching to others.
For me it’s no longer either/or because I don’t think of heaven as being limited to either a place, or only a spiritual realm. I believe it embraces both because Christ, like God’s Love, like the Holy Spirit is everywhere – beyond the normal reach of many people’s imagination, above all human power or authority to control, but also inhabiting the deep recesses of our souls, permeating everyone and every dimension of reality. To those who talk in terms of the kingdom of heaven as being wherever peace and justice reign, I say Yes. I’d also say it’s present in every act of compassion and kindness, and anyone who has experienced forgiveness, or expressed it perhaps after overcoming negative emotions has also experienced heaven. You are the experts – you know the places in life’s ups and downs where you’ve found it.
We don’t need men in long white robes asking why we stare into space when we have each other and people we meet to remind us to look around to see Christ, and to be Christ for others so they can feel love too. Simple, sincere service has always testified to Christ’s presence, but as a community of faith we draw strength from the power of prayer, inspiration from studying Christ’s teachings and hope from celebrating the cycle of death and resurrection that reminds us of Christ’s love offering us new life anytime, all the time. When we let that sink in, and let the beauty of faith lift our spirits – it’s heavenly.