When we seriously read the Bible, we begin to see that our realities are just old systems, cranking out the same rivalries, competitions, winner/loser, insider/outsider narratives century after century.
“Elijah’s stellar prophetic performance is interrupted. It’s interrupted by the sound of silence and the notion that God may be all the more present when the activity stops, and we’re not so sure we can go on, than when we’re calling down fire and apparently at the top of our spiritual game.”
“Whatever work the Camino de Santiago de Compostela does on one’s soul, whatever wisdom it has to impart happens one step at a time. It comes in through each encounter of the bottom of one’s boot with the earth, and through encounters with other walkers along The Way.”
After the experience of the Pentecost, the disciples went out into the world— not swept upward to heaven, as they perhaps had hoped to be, but outward into the world. They set out on dusty roads to encounter and love the downcast, the poor, and the oppressed; to bring reconciliation and peace to the arrogant and the hard of heart; to speak hope to those disheartened and embittered by the drudgery of their circumstances; and to live as symbols and makers of peace in a strife-ridden world.
What I believe the Ascension is really all about is Jesus lifting us up with him, then summoning us to lift one another up, even and especially those we see as rivals. For only then do we all rise to the heavenly realm where together we find the true meaning of salvation.