This past Thursday was Ascension Day. It is a festival when we remember that mysterious event when Jesus was lifted to his throne in heaven, as a cloud separated him from his disciples. We tend not to celebrate this festival as we should. Perhaps it is because it is hard to grasp this happening. We try to understand with our minds only and are afraid to enter into the mystery.
Our chaplain here in the IOOF Home from time to time brings me articles to read. Recently he brought me one by an unnamed writer which I found to be very profound and I relate to many of his observations. For starters, he worships in Durham cathedral. As a student I was in the Diocese of Durham to do some supervised practical work. The awe that ancient building inspired is still with me. To quote the article.
“I stare at the vast arches and pillars
I soak in the depth of the lyrics in the hymns.
The whole experience is one of resurrection wonder - wonder springs up when
something feels much bigger than us, beyond our understanding,
beyond our ability to put it in a box.”
Little children are born with a sense of wonder. Their eyes open wide to take in some new marvel. They look intently as they watch a ladybug or a worm. They do not try to understand; that will come later. Now they are filled with awe. Later they will want answers and that is good but we must never lose our sense of awe. That is how we enter his presence.
Please do not think that I would cast aside intellectual striving after God’s truth, the joyous study in finding more about him or that I would substitute for it a mindless entry into a state of ecstatic nothingness. When we are filled with awe, we reach out to him as he does to us. We experience his presence and we grow in his knowledge – the knowledge of him who is the father, the divine creator of the universe through the son, the revelation of his love through his life on earth and death on the cross. Finally we experience him through the Holy Spirit who enters into our lives to move and direct us by his uplifting and purposeful power.
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