The Immanence of God

 

PROPERS: 7 EASTER, YEAR B

TEXT:       LUKE 24:44-53 (From the Feast of Ascension three days before)

PREACHED AT RESURRECTION, STARKVILLE, ON SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2024 

 

ONE SENTENCE:        The Ascension which we embrace today is Jesus’ ascension into our hearts.  

 

            The Feast of the Ascension was this past Thursday. Sadly, I had ascended to Fairhope.

 

            It is one of the chief feasts of the church year.  It commemorates Jesus’ ascension into heaven. It holds a special place in my heart because it was on that feast day that I was confirmed into the Episcopal Church 54 years ago by Bishop John Allin.

 

            You know the rest of the story.

 

            Our modern sensibilities, informed by science, cause us to wonder about the ascension.  What was it really?  Our understanding of the cosmos is informed by many things – including the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb telescope. Both of those space platforms peer billions of years into the depths of the universe. And the appearance of the Aurora Borealis the last two nights has only highlighted that wonder.

 

            The cosmology of Jesus’ time understood things quite differently.  There was no knowledge of the massiveness of the universe.

 

The view of creation in that time was quite simple. There was the earth on which people walked. There were the pillars of the earth, which held the world up.  There was the great firmament which served as both the sky and the barrier to prevent the waters high above from cascading into our world.  God dwelt above the firmament and the waters.

 

            There is not much mention of the ascension in scripture.  There is brief mention in Acts, a little in Luke, and none in Matthew, Mark, and John. But it was very clear that the early church believed that Jesus was above all the human chaos of this world.  After all, that is the dwelling place of God.

 

            I think there is something more significant here.  It is something that is more transformative than a God that is high above this world.  It is a concept that we all knowand is much more pertinent to us than an ancient and dated cosmology.

 

            In a March 22, 1959 sermon in Montgomery, Alabama, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said something quite profound.  It applies to Jesus, Abraham Lincoln and others. It related to the assassination of Indian pacifist Mahatma Gandhi. Hear his words: “The man who shot Gandhi only shot him into the hearts of humanity.” He became more powerful in death than he was in life.

 

            Jesus’ continuing presence is like Gandhi, only much more so.  For thousands of years and millions of lives, Jesus has been crucified and ascended into the hearts of men and women around the world.  His continuing presence is much greater in our lives than the ancient cosmology of heaven above and earth below would suggest.

 

            The God we proclaim is not imaginary, distant and unreachable – as Soviet astronaut Yuri Gargarin alleged.  Instead, we worship a God who is immanent – a God who manifests himself in then daily wonders of this world, and in the bread and wine we share today. 

 

            Be aware that the God we worship is as close as our prayers. Come to the table and feed on his bounty.