“I am coming to you, [Father].” We hear those words in our gospel, taken from Jesus’ high priestly prayer at the Last Supper with his disciples, uttered shortly before his arrest in Gethsemane and his trial, crucifixion, and resurrection that soon followed. This week we have celebrated that homecoming. Thursday (May 1st this year), 40 days after Easter, was the day the Church has set aside to focus our attention on Christ’s Ascension into heaven, his return to the heavenly places to be seated at the right hand of the Father as our epistle lesson puts it.

The central stained glass window over the altar in Trinity Church, Apalachicola, beautifully depicts Luke’s description of the Ascension in our Acts lesson, “…as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” It is important to remember that, for the Jews, the cloud symbolized the presence of God. We might think of it like the chariot of fire that came to get Elijah at the end of his life (II Kings 2:11), God coming to claim his own, to clasp them to his bosom welcoming them home.

Our cosmology has changed considerably since our scripture describing Christ Jesus’ ascension was written. We no longer see the sky as a dome over the earth with heaven above that, as did our forebears. That does not, however, negate our belief in or our understanding of Christ’s homecoming. The Episcopal Church Catechism (BCP, p.850) summarizes what we mean when we say that Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. “We mean that Jesus took our human nature into heaven where he now reigns with the Father and intercedes for us.” Our human nature then has a home in the kingdom of God, the realm of Love. Christ Jesus paved the way for our homecoming. That is the promise of Christ’s ascension. When we are ready to come home, God will be waiting to welcome us with open arms.