
Is Jesus’ Ascension Ours?
“We are in the world, but do not belong to the world. We are marked with eternity. We will be among the saints.”
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“We are in the world, but do not belong to the world. We are marked with eternity. We will be among the saints.”
“We are truly immortal beings, wed in our very essence to the living God, who is love. And so it is only through loving – constantly, extravagantly, and unexpectedly – that we express our true natures.”
We have plenty of time to gaze upon icons or up into Heaven as those we read about today did. But it seems like the one thing we don’t get around to doing is actually following Jesus.
I can’t imagine that Jesus ever meant for us to strip other peoples of their ancient understandings and way of life, their culture and their religion, as Christians, in an attempt to carry out the Great Commission, have done – over and over again.
I wonder about the use of the word “my” before the word “peace.” It seems that just leaving us with “peace” would have been a good gesture in advance of Jesus’ lift-off. But Jesus seems to own the brand. Jesus has a kind of peace that is not like the peace offered by “the world.” And what we know about the term “The world” in John’s gospel and in the early church writings is that “world” does not refer to the planet on which we live, but to the noise in which we live.
As I listened to this person, I remember thinking to myself, “Boy, this guy could really use a good psychotherapist.” And then I remember the split-second feeling of free-fall when it dawned on me that the therapist he needed was me.
Luke 24:44-53 Bereft, the disciples stare at the empty sky. The Master has disappeared, this time for good. He turned their worlds upside down, set
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