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Dear St. Christopher’s Family,
Just yesterday we observed the Ascension in the Church. Of course it won’t be absent on Sunday, as the lessons will bring it up then also. It’s a special Sunday for me because the first Sunday Eucharist I ever celebrated was on the Sunday after the Ascension in 2000. But this feast has remained a mystery to me: how can we rejoice in Christ’s Ascension when the most obvious meaning of it is that we do not see him face-to-face anymore?
Throughout the scriptures, there are warnings about seeing God’s face too closely. Moses had to hide in the rocks and could see only God’s back; Elijah covered his own eyes at the still-small voice. The presumption was that if you saw God’s face, it would make the final scene in Raider’s of the Lost Ark look mild in comparison.
But here we are after Easter. Finally, after all his teaching ministry, his signs and miracles, and his Resurrection, we finally come to know Jesus as who he says he is: God who has made it so we can look on his face. The day will certainly come when we see Jesus’ face as he returns. But how do we see him now? By our baptism, we are now, of course, Christ’s body, his hands and his feet. It would be naive of us to think that stopped short of being Christ’s face also. As summer approaches, let’s make a point of staying near where we can see God face-to face; let’s make a point of staying near to each other.
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