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A new perspective
Dear Friends,
After the laboured grind of lockdown and the confinement and shrinking
our own little worlds, the hope of getting away this Summer for a break,
maybe even on holiday, is something many of us look forward to.
Especially after the best part of two years of being grounded, some of
us will be looking forward to the time when we night even take to the
skies again: to be lifted out of the everyday to see the world, and life
itself with a new perspective.
The lifting up of Jesus at the Ascension offers us a new perspective on
life today. It is very tempting to view the Ascension of Jesus as a bit
of an afterthought: perhaps merely another of Jesus' resurrection
appearances to his disciples, albeit the final one.
But what the Ascension of Jesus forces us to do is to lift our eyes from
our earth-bound existence, to deliver us from our time-bound tunnel
vision so that we may see God's purposes for the world and for ourselves
from the perspective of eternity. The ascending Christ says to his
disciples, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…" Matt 28.18-19.
We serve a unique risen and ascended Lord. The resurrected and ascended
human Christ is also the cosmic Christ, "the Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end, all times belong to him and all ages".
Moreover, if we, who are baptized into Christ and are therefore united
with him, then also have a share in his destiny. St Paul contrasts the
fate of those who live for earth-bound glory, vanity and self-indulgence
are on the way to destruction, with those who have hope in Christ, of
whom he writes, "But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there
that we are expecting a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will
transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the
body of his glory, Phil 3.20-21.
As Christians, we are to see ourselves from a new perspective: as
citizens of heaven, eyes fixed on Jesus and on eternity, "where true
joys are to be found".
As we recover from the pandemic, and rebuild and restore our personal
lives and the life of our church and community, what, or rather who,
will you and I fix our eyes on? Will we work to become rulers of our own
little empires, or will we instead see ourselves as honoured citizens
and servants of the Kingdom of God, and beloved subjects of the King?
With love and prayers,
Fr Kevin. |
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Fr
Kevin writes...
