Homily for The Ascension 2016

Ascension (Mother’s Day) 2016

I believe this is only the second time in forty-two years that I have actually preached on Mother’s Day.  This past Wednesday marked my 42nd year of ordination.  Now I feel like I am between the proverbial rock and a hard place because the day after ordination my mother said “don’t ever preach about mothers on Mother’s Day.”  It isn’t that she didn’t like being a mother but she was tired of the insipid things she heard priests say on Mother’s Day.  They don’t know what they are talking about and she didn’t want me following suit; and she was absolutely right; I don’t know the first thing about being a mother.

Thank God we are celebrating the feast of the Ascension today, for I will have something to talk about.  We need to view this feast in context.  The context is much larger than we may think.  The ascension and resurrection were not just event that took place 2,000 years ago; but event that are happening right now, in us.  Jesus is rising from the dead in us, each day.  Jesus is ascending in us daily.  The feast of the ascension is the feast of our empowerment.  We along with the disciples are the ones empowered from on high to do in our day what Jesus did.  The ascension isn’t about Jesus going away but rather plunging ever more deeply into a world in need of healing through us.  Jesus’ ascension took place in a very broken world; there were still the diseased, the crippled, those on the edges of society not allowed in.  We celebrate the ascension today in a very broken world, starving for healing, love and acceptance.  Jesus Himself was crushed beyond recognition in His passion and death.  But, Jesus witnessed to and believed in His heavenly parent; Jesus witnessed and believed in His mother Mary and this witnessing and believing changed everything.

Most of us did not grow up in Hallmark Card or Norman Rockwell family paintings.  Each of us, like the disciples in our readings today have been given a legacy.  While I know very little about motherhood I do know my mother.  She was not perfect.  She suffered from agoraphobia and her idea of a hamburger patty was a hockey puck on steroids.  Still, she loved me deeply and I found trust and comfort in her presence.  Despite weaknesses she had strength and faith beyond imagining.  She taught, not by a lot of rules but by example.  I never remember either my mom and dad having to beg me to attend church because it was obvious how much it meant to them; and in that elevated my own expectations.  

Jesus learned about His Jewish origins and faith tradition through His mother, He believed them and lived them.  Jesus in turn taught not with rules but by example and told us to go forth and do likewise.  Good parents want their children to soar, to live life free and happy.  Good parents know how to set their children free.

That moment of setting free or being set free is one fraught with anxiety and we see that played out in our readings.  How are we going to get along without Him?  Jesus thinking, I hope they will be alright - and they will be alright because of what I have given and will give them.  Suddenly we feel alone, maybe abandoned; we have to assess what we have and sometimes we just stare, looking back, looking forward — stunned.  Then we take those first tentative steps, and realize that we too can soar.  

Today we remember and celebrate our source.  Most of us are far removed from the moment we were first set free.  Most of us know that we don’t always soar.  We have times of doubt, feelings of inadequacy, wondering if we can make it through another day; so we remember our source be it our natural family, or an adopted family and always our faith.  This feast of the ascension is our constant invitation, to live, to love, to soar with abandon.