Don’t look up, look around
The Ascension is a pretty wild thing to wrap your mind around. If you said to me, “I am down with Jesus and the resurrection, but I don’t believe in the Ascension,” I would say, “Yeah, I get it. I hear you. I am all in on it, but it is kind of a stretch for a lot of people. Don’t worry, you don’t have to believe in the Ascension to go to heaven.”
Here’s why I’m all in on the Ascension. There are two theological one-liners that really give the Ascension its punch for me. Fr. Thomas Keating said, “Jesus did not ascend to some geographical place. He ascended into the heart of all creation.”
This notion caused Paula D’arcy to say, "God comes to you disguised as your own life.”
So we can say, there is nowhere that God is not. We live in a Christ-saturated world.
The living, vibrant, saving spirit of Jesus is buried in some way or another in whatever and whoever is right in front of you. This is why after Jesus ascended into the heart of all creation, a couple of angels show up and say to the disciples, “Hey guys, why are you looking up? Jesus is not up there. He is down here. Don’t look up, look around.”
Christ is present in all people, places, and things. If only we had eyes to see. Our job is to treat the world and the people in it as if it is all the body of Christ himself.
Here’s the truth revealed by the Ascension: Jesus Christ dwells this day in the silent landscape of your own heart. His presence within you is your True Self. You can touch that silent diamond of divine love within you. It wants to come forth as your God-embodied gift to give to the world. Christ has ascended into the heart of all creation, and our job is to be the Christ presence on the street level in our workaday lives and then look for and encourage the Christ-emergence in our friends.
Don’t look up, look around.
When you see Christ shining through someone as they exercise their gift, point it out. There is nothing God likes better than to hear people complimenting each other on the way they let their light shine.
Sometimes I hear people say, “I didn’t say anything when I saw her do that great thing because I didn’t want to give her a big head.”
Stop it. You know as well as I do that most people are not walking around thinking they are the best thing since sliced bread. Most people are stumbling around wondering where they fit, wondering if they have a gift to give, wondering if life has meaning and if God exists at all much less within them. So when you see Christ shining in somebody - point it out! Come down to the street level and become an encourager.
Don’t look up, look around.
