ASCENSION OF OUR LORD "B"

THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD

(Mark 16, 15 – 20   Year  “b”)

Have you ever watched a child in a swing, lost in her own world as she swings higher

 and higher trying to reach up to the sky ? In her childhood innocence, she has no sense of limitation. She hasn’t yet learned the meaning of the word “can’t.” You might be thinking, “But she’s just a child. Of course she can never touch the sky. She’ll grow up and learn better.”That child’s highest aspiration while sitting in the swing is to feel a part of the sky,

and the most fortunate among us also never lose that wonderful sense that “the sky’s the

 limit!”  Take the magic of childhood and transform it into wisdom and function fully

 as an adult, never losing the child’s imaginative power and sense of wonder at the infinite. Following the dictates of your heart, you create the magic that makes the deepest desire

 come true, meeting with success unexpected to common sense. Put some things behind, pass invisible boundaries, expand the old laws and live with the freedom of a higher order of beings. Then solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, or weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.Undoubtedly most of us have been told many

 times we can be what we want to be. Yet so many of us grow to adulthood living mediocre lives, feeling unfulfilled and compromised.  What makes the difference between one who accomplishes his dreams and one who falls short? The one who succeeds is more than merely a dreamer  - he is also a realist: he has put on his dreams.

Our Lord Jesus smiled with joy as he quit this world for heaven. Not because we gave him a pretty hard time here, but he had realised his dream of establishing his Father’s Church. And his apostles smiled back as they waved him goodbye, their eyes dripping with joy. For them the Ascension was a socko climax to the tale of the Christ. Additionally, it was a glorious commence-ment to their own missionary adventure. The Master whom they had known on earth as the carpenter from no good Nazareth had become the Emperor of Heaven. As a consequence, when they ran into hot water down the road, they expected that this King of kings would ride to their rescue. No wonder then they were jumping for joy like cats on a hot tin roof. Formerly all they had known was to row a boat and pull in the nets. Now they were taking a religion out of the small backwater country of Palestine, and in the space of a few years they made that splinter group existing on the fringes of the Roman Empire into a world religion. These unlettered men made the Jesus story the greatest thing going on the world market. Of course, you and I don’t believe that they pulled it off by themselves. The dear and powerful Lord Jesus wasn’t lounging around

 in Heaven, but he was with his Apostles through it all. As a matter of fact, he is on duty 24 hours a day, always listening to our prayers and working out contracts for us. He is always but a prayer away.The 12 apostles have long since also ascended to join their penniless Employer in the affluence of Heaven. You and I are the newest apostle. It is we who must go door to door with a New Testament in our hands and tell people about the Christ adventure.We do not have to be top of the line sales people. Mother Teresa reminds us, “We are not meant to do great things for God but small things with great love.” The ascended Christ will be giving us the same help he gave Peter, Paul, John & Co. The world out there awaits us. What are your “castles in the air ?” Ask yourself how you can put feet into your dreams. Then get your feet off the ground and swing higher and higher until you reach that part of the sky that’s there waiting for you.

PRAYER:  (Michael Vasey)

Blessed are you, Sovereign God, reigning in glory.

Cloud and deep darkness proclaim your holiness; radiant light shows forth your truth.

Jesus has entered into the cloud of your presence; he has taken his seat at the right hand of Majesty. Perfect sacrifice, he has put away sins. Merciful high priest, he pleads for our weakness.Always our brother, he prepares our place in heaven.

Ruler of all, he establishes your reign.

Dawning light for the righteous, hope of

 sinners,

Blessed are you, Sovereign God,

 high over all.