“I see no God up here”

These were the alleged words of Yuri Gargarin — the first man in space. Does this observation mean that we should no longer celebrate Jesus being “taken up into heaven?”

I hope you’re rolling your eyes. This Soviet propaganda, like much of the work of the contemporary New Atheists, tears down a straw man. The disciples did not think that God is a spaceman and that Jesus went to join him there. What they were saying is that sometime after the resurrection Jesus left space-time to be with God.

This Thursday is Ascension Day — the least well-known of the seven major feast days in the Anglican tradition (e.g. Christmas, Pentecost, Easter Sunday, etc.) It’s when we hold fast to Jesus’ promise that in leaving he would actually be more present to us.

While with us in the flesh he was limited. Constrained in that he could only be present with those in his purview. But now, having been “seated at the right hand of the Father,” he is all-present. He is supremely personal. In a word, the ascension of Jesus is the end of Christ’s self-limitation.

The promise of the ascension is that Jesus is more present to you and me today than he ever was to the disciples while on earth! So there’s no need to invent the flux capacitor to experience him, or worse, enlist Elon Musk to shoot you into space to find him. Jesus, like his Father, is omnipresent, which means he’s omni-available: always listening, always speaking through his Word and sacraments, and always interceding to his God on our behalf.

In the words of Ja Rule, he’s “always there when you call, and always on time.” So enough talking about him, let’s talk to him!

Grace and Peace,

Ben