Canon Robin Gibbons on Feast of the Ascension

Ascension of Jesus - Latakkia 1667

"And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age"

Mt 28:20)

It is good to come at something familiar from another angle, to try and see something from another person's viewpoint or perhaps simply to have a rethink about the way we perceive whatever we are looking at. So it was for the Ascension this year with me, I decided that I should look anew at this feast, explore it in ways I perhaps haven't thought about. The Ascension is both imaginative in the way it portrays the leave taking of Jesus from the experience of lived human life he had with us, to portraying him turning back towards us in glory, setting him somewhere away from us, in the Kingdom beyond our sight, yet never far away. It suddenly came to me that this really should be a feast day for the 'elders' of our community, a celebration of their lives lived amongst us, but also the hope and prayer that their journey may end in a leave taking of joy going forth-so to speak-from amongst us, to be with the One ever loving, ever caring, ever present, but for them a hope that soon, very soon, they as we one day hope to, will see Him as he is!

Like many, I add myself to this elderly crowd, for though I hit 70 in August, but I have some positive thoughts about it, for this is not an age where we have to be consigned to the top shelf of life in our 70's and 80's, though there is that trajectory of finite stages, less human time to live, our body telling us to slow, to take it easy, a more contemplative time ( if we are able) to enter into a new dialogue with God, with ourselves and with those we love. Yes, this period of elderly life really needs its voice amongst us again. We do need the young, their enthusiasm, new vision, energy and excitement. We depend on those in middle age who carry so much of the burdens of living, sorting things out, making decisions, planning and getting on with things. However there is also the gift and a wisdom to be learnt, discovered and shared in growing old, the elders have a role and place that makes the different stages of human life more complete. So why is the Ascension my chosen feast for the elders you might ask?

In one sense its arbitrary, in another the Ascension is both about preparing to go, knowing when to go, it is an example of preparation to move on, Christ's leave taking in a constructive and loving manner, but it is also a welcoming to those who are saying goodbye, its au revoir, à bientôt, see you again, mañana, that reminder of other meetings to come, that adds deep enduring hope to its message. The hook on which this reflection hangs are those words of Jesus I used as a header, 'I am with you always' and if that refers to Jesus' abiding presence in so many ways until he comes again in glory it also, does it not, links us to the sure and certain hope that his resurrection gives us a new dimension to life which moves into the immensity of our Loving God!

'In sure and certain hope' is a scriptural and liturgical phrase we use of death and life eternal, so for me, and for those of us who think on these things, the Ascension is the gateway in a visual sense to the moment of going and the promise that a void is not left. So perhaps this Feast day we can pray for the elders of our communities, learn to recognise their gifts even in sickness and debilitation, to look on life as a whole with its various ages of transition and change. If you look at the byzantine icon of the Ascension perhaps you might be drawn to the disciples below the Christ, letting go, sorrowing as well as hoping, that is where we tend to be with loss, but this feast, the feast of the elders who will go-but then wait for us with Christ, is also to focus on that main image of the glorified Christ who goes-but ever remains-and will take us to Himself. There is a destiny that matters, an adventure in our going forth from this world. May the Ascension be for us all a day of hopeful joy!