The Rector's Message for the Week of May 20, 2023

The ceiling of the Chapel of the Ascension of Christ in the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham

Dear Friends,

I was born in 1960 – I was a space-age baby.  Uri Gagārin entered the history books as the first man in space just after my first birthday.  He is often quoted as saying that, as he orbited the earth, he looked for God but could not find him.  There is, of course, no record of him ever saying that.  What Gagārin did say after his re-entry landed him in a field 174 miles off course, terrifying a farmer and his daughter, is well recorded, “When they saw me in my space suit and the parachute dragging alongside as I walked, they started to back away in fear. I told them, ‘Don’t be afraid, I am a Soviet like you, who has descended from space and I must find a telephone to call Moscow!’”

When Jesus appeared to his disciples less than two whole days after his death, they had exactly the same reaction; they had been taught to fear death but nobody had prepared them for the experience of resurrection.

The resurrected body of Jesus was, of course, not a resuscitated corpse otherwise he would have to have died again. The body of Jesus was glorified – changed and no longer of the mortal stuff of this world.  Because of that, the Ascension of Jesus is often mistakenly seen as a convenient way of disposing of the resurrected body of Jesus that doesn’t really belong in our time or in our spatial awareness. The story of the Ascension is portrayed using imagery of what was understood then about human existence and a cosmology from a very different era – where heaven was ‘up’ and you could fall off the edge of the world.  However, the disciples recognized the real Jesus when they saw him after his resurrection; he was not a ghost and could be handled. But just as Uri Gagārin was unable to discover heaven in space so the Ascension cannot be simply understood in terms of the physical constraints of human existence.  The Ascension of Jesus transforms the whole cosmos with his presence just as the body of Jesus was transfigured on earth; as Saint Paul says, “He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.” (Ephesians 4:10) The whole New Testament is written looking through the lens of the Resurrection of Christ, which is the hope in which we live – the hope of our glory – which is life in abundance – a quality of life promised by Jesus, until the day comes when each of us receives a resurrection body like his or, as St. Paul puts it, “When this perishable body puts on imperishability.” (1 Corinthians 15:54).

There are many who believe that the Ascension of Christ, somehow, reverses the awfulness of the cross; but this is not the faith of the Church.  The great theologian, John Macquarrie, said this: “The ascension is not a separate event, indeed we shall see that in an important sense it is one and the same as the humiliation of Christ; or rather, these two are opposite sides of the same event.”  (Principles of Christian Theology).  Just as Thomas saw the marks of the nails in the Lord’s hands, and the wound caused by the spear in the Lord’s side, so we, too, can have confidence that our own woundedness will be caught up by the Lord who forever intercedes for us ‘at the right hand of the Father’ (as the Apostles’ Creed puts it so simply). The glory of Jesus is the glory that comes through his suffering and death.  So, as Jesus ascends, the disciples saw the wounds carried into heaven.  It is this eternal freshness of the wounds of love that transforms and transfigures the cosmos; we can only begin to understand the glory of Jesus Christ if we understand the significance of the glory of his death.  And, therefore, this is the hope in which we live – the hope of our glory, which is life in all its fullness because God loves us so much.

The Rose Window above the East Gallery

From Calvary and Easter there comes a Christian hope of immense range: the hope of transformation not only of humankind but of the cosmos too.  The bringing of humankind to glory will be the prelude to the beginning of all creation.  Is this hope mere fantasy?  At its root there is the belief in the divine sovereignty of sacrificial love, a sovereignty made credible only by transfigured lives.

(Michael Ramsey – Be still and know).

What a joyful celebration we had last Sunday when 21 young people and adults were welcomed into our fellowship through baptism, confirmation, and reception.  It was very moving that two choristers asked Mo. Turner if they could be baptized.  We have a had a very robust attendance at the Pilgrims’ Class this year with as many people on-line as in the room.  A number of the pilgrims were prevented from being with us last Sunday, so they will be confirmed or received at a later date.  At our last session this week, so many people turned up to talk about prayer that we did not have enough places set at the dinner table!  What a sign of growth that we have people thirsty to pray!  We also had eight children who had finished the course we offer each year on Holy Communion; some of them have parents who were brought up in the another tradition, and for whom preparing to receive Holy Communion the first time is a very special occasion. Others had been receiving communion since baptism, but this allowed them a chance to enter more deeply into the mystery, and is a good taster for them before they are confirmed in a few years’ time.

In the fall, we will be resuming our Pilgrims Class II course which explores a number of themes more deeply.  It is also a course that allows people to discover our church and its traditions and one of the favourite sessions is always the one where we have a tour of the church and the sacristies, opening cupboards, and lifting up altar cloths, and looking at some of the treasures of our church that have been given to us over the past 200 years.

If you are reading this and thinking ‘I have never been baptized or confirmed” or, perhaps, you are from another tradition but Saint Thomas has become your home, then the Pilgrims’ Class is for you!  We begin again in earnest in January 2024.  You can send an email to [email protected] and we will send you details in the late fall/early winter.

Your Priest and Pastor,

Carl