OBLIVIOUS?

It’s been 41 days since Easter. Which, smartly enough, I figured (lol) that yesterday was the 40th day after Easter which means, it was Ascension Sunday. Yesterday at First Baptist Church Lloydminster, people I would say were perhaps generally oblivious of what was going on throughout Christendom- the celebration of a great feast– which I call, the feast of the GREAT COMMISSION!

Just a day short of a week after Easter, I entered the beautiful Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver hoping to attend the Saturday morning Communion Service. Realizing I had come half an hour early, I decided to take a tour of the magnificent structure and the treasury of art work it contained. Drawing closer to the high altar my eyes gravitated toward the east window above it. I went closer to admire the fine stained glass art– it’s amazing how some sanctuaries are ministries in themselves and stir people’s heart to bow to the Creator for Whose worship and glory they were built. That’s exactly what the Cathedral did to me.

Looking closer, the east window composed of five panels depicting highlights in the life of Christ. The very center is the Ascension window (see below).

The barest facts: Jesus, the powerful, charismatic teacher and healer, God-man; he was crucified as an enemy of the state and of organized religion; his presence was experienced by many beyond the grave; his promise of spiritual empowerment and salvation was kept and secured in his finished work, the church was born and the eternal message concerning love of God and neighbor caught hold everywhere it was shared.

As the story unfolds then, the Ascension is the transition from the specifics concerning Jesus, to the specifics concerning the birth of the church and the spreading of the message of God’s kingdom come to earth-the conjunction. So long as Jesus was around, the message couldn’t be larger than his circle of friends. His leave-taking catalyzed the invitation for humanity to assume its proper role, to become co-workers with God, to become actors on the stage rather than spectators in the audience.[1]

In the Ascension we have the exaltation of all that Jesus taught and lived, the triumph of love over death, resident with God, means that we are  included within the same victory. It’s for this reason that person after person, year after year, generation after generation has found his or her life transformed and empowered when introduced to the living God in Jesus Christ.

Consider the testimony of the great Russian novelist, Leo Tolstoy: “Five years ago I came to believe in Christ’s teaching, and my life suddenly changed. I ceased to desire what I had previously desired, and began to desire what I formerly did not want. …It happened to me as it happens to a man who goes out on some business and on the way suddenly decides that the business is unnecessary and returns home…his former wish to get as far as possible from home has changed into a wish to be as near as possible to it…suddenly I heard the words of Christ and understood them…and I experienced the joy of life undisturbed by death.”[2]

So, the Great Commission continues.

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[1] S Bauman, CCNYC15610

[2] Leo Tolstoy, “What I Believe,” trans. Aylmer Maude, in Calvin Miller’s The Book of Jesus, 1996, Simon and Schuster.