Ascension Day

My First Thoughts of Ascension

I remember trying to see things. My vision was limited. All I could see were people’s backs and legs. I was probably four or five years old at the time. Our family was in downtown Tempe, Arizona for a parade. In my mind, it was either an Arizona State University Homecoming parade, or a Fourth of July parade on Mill Avenue. I remember Joe Sella’s Sporting Goods store, the Monster Burger, and Dairy Queen also. but, of course, I couldn’t see them. Not this time. A crowd of people talking and cheering. Some moving slowly. Many standing still. And I could see nothing.

I remember the view was busy and meaningless.

Then, I was lifted. Hands grasped my sides and the sky began to open. A wider view. Higher, until I remember sitting on my dad’s shoulders and seeing what everyone else was seeing. Colors of marching bands, cars with local celebrities and dignitaries waving, and colorful floats.

Whether I was high atop the crowd, or down on the ground, it was the same setting. The same place. Only my view of things had changed.

“and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”

— Ephesians 2.6

My thoughts of Ascension Day also lead my to the backyard of the home where I grew up. My dad, a HAM radio operator, had a 70’ tower in the backyard. At one point, he had encased the bottom eight feet or so with plywood so that curious children would not climb it without supervision. But was we got older, and we had some safety belts, it became a favorite view. Again, it was the same place, only my view of things had changed.

“When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people”

— Ephesians 4.8

As we seek to replant our church, we have begun talking about the foundational roles we each have. We begun looking the “voices”, “archetypes”, or “personas Paul mentions in Ephesians 4.11-12. Alan Hirsch mentions nontraditional ways to view these roles in more expansive terms: the Pioneer, Creative, Connector, Nurturer and Guardian; or the Dreamer, the Thinker, the Lover, the Warrior, the Lookout, and the Voyager; or, the Visionary, the Messenger, the Storyteller, the Nurturer and the Teacher (Is APEST Key to Our Identity?).

He Made Captivity a Captive

I remember the view in the mass of people at the parade. I remember the view was busy and meaningless. Busy. Sounds without context. Figures and movement. Smells of popcorn? Pressure from all sides moving me where I didn’t freely chose to go. I was tangled in the herd without any real choice.

Captivity in the flow of people. Media, Images and implied judgment. News of epidemics, earthquakes, and murder hornets. Bounced in the stir and whirl and busyness of the moment. It all becomes captivating. Captive. And then it becomes noise, and boundaries, and meaninglessness.

There is something about being raised with Jesus that says there is another view of the busyness, the hubbub, the limiting captivating agitation. To raised on the shoulders, to climb a tower, to get the new perspective. Our captivity falls away and wider views open. Even now, when I know the limitations of my views, I do know there is another perspective. There is a view I vicariously share with Jesus, because he invited me to see it with him. It is from the view, I need to look at my neighbors, friends, and even the political and cultural machinations of desperate fearful people. To see with the eyes of Jesus.