May 14, 2026

Ascension

To ascend means to go up. Jesus, apparently, ascended literally and, assuming that the Son of God could attain the speed of light, by now he would be somewhere near the star Deneb, in the Cygnus constellation. Ascension, of course, does not just mean moving up in space, it implies moving up in some other way, and that idea is deeply ingrained in us. There is something in all of us that knows that this world is not everything. There has to be more to life than this. We long to ascend into that more, whatever it is, and we instinctively grope for a path. 

Earlier this spring, Sharon and I visited Mt. Shasta. While we were there, we took a quick side trip to Ascension Rock, a well known “spiritual place” where people claim to touch higher planes of existence. It was a lovely spot, but the only ascension we did was climbing up the rock itself. There are places like Ascension Rock all over the world, and “spiritual but not religious” people continue to seek them, along with many other ways to transcend this world. And it isn’t just places. Some people say that psychedelics allow them to ascend to spiritual realms, some people fast, some people meditate, and the list goes on. 

But, somehow, people miss the “thin places” that are closest to them. At Resurrection, as at many churches, we ascend to the right hand of God every Sunday as we immerse ourselves in the story of God’s people and share in the heavenly feast that is the Body and Blood of Christ. We ascend in silence, in music, in community, and in mystery. Somehow people have forgotten that it is possible to be spiritual AND religious, that we do not need to make pilgrimages to difficult to reach places, to ascend to heaven to bring Christ down nor descend into the abyss to bring Christ up from the dead. He is very near us. Invite the seekers in your life to ascend, to take the side trip to Resurrection and, as C. S. Lewis phrased it, “come further up, come further in.”

Formation

Beginning on Sunday, May 31, the 9:15 Sunday Christian Formation class will be addressing the topics of war. We’ll be talking about why an Episcopalian might choose to serve in the military, what makes a just war, and various sorts of pacifism and conscientious objection supported by the church. We’ll be basing our discussion on materials produced by the national Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Peace Fellowship.