Hasting to Heaven

Ascensiontide might only last ten days, but as the completion of Easter, it warrants our full attention.

Thursday marked the Feast of the Ascension and we began praying the octave’s collect:

GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen (BCP, 1928).

And in addition to the scripture readings, we sang our theology in our hymns:

See, the Conqu'ror mounts in triumph,
See the King in royal state,
Riding on the clouds, his chariot,
To his heav'nly palace gate;
Hark! the choirs of angel voices
Joyful alleluias sing,
And the portals high are lifted
To receive their heav'nly King.
He who on the cross did suffer,
He who from the grave arose,
He has vanquished sin and Satan,
He by death has spoiled his foes.
While he lifts his hands in blessing,
He was parted from his friends;
While their eager eyes behold him,
He upon the clouds ascends.

Thou hast raised our human nature
On the clouds to God’s right hand:
There we sit in heav’nly places,
There with thee in glory stand.
Jesus reigns, adored by angels;
Man with God is on the throne;
Mighty Lord, in thine ascension,
We by faith behold our own.
Christopher Wordsworth, 1862, alt. / IN BABILONE (first tune)

For us, a very modern text from Howard Chandler Robbins, 1932, but set to Handel’s melody HALIFAX:

And have the bright immensities
Received our risen Lord,
Where light years frame the Pleiades
And point Orion’s sword?
Do flaming suns His footsteps trace
Through corridors sublime,
The Lord of interstellar space
And Conqueror of time?

The heav’n that hides him from our sight
Knows neither near nor far;
An altar candle sheds its light
As surely as a star.
And where His loving people meet
To share the gift divine,
There stands He with unhurrying feet;
There heav’nly splendors shine.

Our rector pointed out that just as we’re about to think Robbins was getting it all wrong and placing the Ascension on par with the outer space orbit of the Artemis, he likens Jesus’ presence with the candle on the altar there in the midst of the Church or the Body of Christ.

Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious;
see the Man of Sorrows now;
from the fight returned victorious,
every knee to him shall bow.
Crown Him! Crown Him!
Crowns become the victor's brow.
Crown the Saviour, angels, crown Him;
rich the trophies Jesus brings;
in the seat of power enthrone Him,
while the vault of heaven rings.
Crown Him! Crown Him!
Crown the Saviour King of kings.
Sinners in derision crowned him,
mocking thus Messiah’s claim;
saints and angels throng around him,
own his title, praise his name.
Crown Him! Crown Him!
Spread abroad the Victor's fame!
Hark, those bursts of acclamation!
Hark! those loud triumphant chords!
Jesus takes the highest station;
O what joy the sight affords!
Crown Him! Crown Him!
King of kings, and Lord of lords!
Thomas Kelly, 1809 / William H. Monk CORONAE

The head that once was crowned with thorns
is crowned with glory now;
a royal diadem adorns
the mighty Victor's brow.

The highest place that heaven affords
is his, is his by right,
the King of kings, and Lord of lords,
and heaven's eternal Light;

The joy all of all who dwell above,
the joy of all below,
to whom he manifests his love
and grants his Name to know.

To them the cross with all its shame,
with all its grace is giv’n;
their name, an everlasting name;
their joy, the joy of heav’n.

They suffer with their Lord below,
they reign with him above,
their profit and their joy to know
the mystery of his love.

The cross he bore is life and health,
though shame and death to him:
his people's hope, his people's wealth,
their everlasting theme.

Thomas Kelly, 1820 / Jeremiah Clark, 1709, ST. MAGNUS

Our sermon was about how the enemy’s last temptation in the desert was a direct mockery and parody of the Ascension and how the enemy is almost always marked by confusion, anger, and counterfeit. The temptation is about vainglorious pride and throwing himself down from the highest point only to have angels come to his aid. Instead of testing by the father, he would test the father. What a mockery and a laugh it would be. But instead, in response to the reality of the Ascension, “they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.”

We’ve been going through the Nicene Creed in Sunday School and in his summary, our rector talked about how it spells out the life of Christ as it recites the key points of his incarnate ministry. Our yearly Church Kalendar helps us to live out our faith in Christ though awe, imitation, worship, and participation in his life.

And so, on Sunday, we added this collect:

O GOD, the King of glory, who hast exalted thine only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph unto thy kingdom in heaven; We beseech thee, leave us not comfortless; but send to us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us unto the same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.