5-25-20<\/p>\n
The Pandemic, or as most of us have come to know it in our daily lives, the Pandemonium, even in relative slow motion, has been absorbing seemingly every conversation, every newscast, every blog message.<\/p>\n
It is difficult to believe that Easter was only a couple of months ago. Harder still, perhaps, to address the fact that the meaning<\/em> of Easter seems light-years away. We can note, we do<\/em> note, that except for a few exceptions the Church has been almost silent on the plague and the reactions to it.<\/p>\n Are church leaders \u201crendering unto Caesar\u201d and dutifully following rules? Are faith leaders being cowardly? Are they at least stepping forward in their communities, in newspapers, on television, and offering\u2026 help? Prayers? Shelter? Alternatives to church meetings?<\/p>\n Mostly, no. Franklin Graham plans a tent hospital in Central Park, in fact in response to a request from Mt Sinai Hospital across the street. The city rejoices. Until he prays when it opens, and dozens of volunteers are in place. Then a successful move begins to force him out of the city. Those New York types hate Christ more than they hate Covid.<\/p>\n Believers have begun to rise up, and now churches are nervously \u2013 and occasionally boldly \u2013 joining the brave move to exercise First Amendment rights. It is about time! It was getting to be that I thought, if I ever find myself in a foxhole, I would want hairdressers and barbers at my sides.<\/p>\n Yes, we can worship in our living rooms; we can kneel at a stump in our back yards. Yes, we can, but we tend not to; and there is something about worshiping God in a place of God with the people of God.<\/p>\n Since Easter, among the Biblical things that might have been eclipsed is a holiday in the Church calendar that was already fading in importance anyway; a shame. Ascension Day for centuries was a major observance, more important than Christmas.<\/p>\n It falls 40 days after Easter, after the Resurrection. The day is always, therefore, on a Thursday, and most often celebrated on the next Sunday in churches. It marks the event, after Jesus\u2019s final visits and ministering, being seem by multitudes, when He invited the Disciples and others to the Mount of Olives\u2026 announced another fulfillment of prophecy\u2026 and ascended into Heaven, into the clouds. Bodily. Witnessed by many.<\/p>\n And in that manner, He promised, He would return some day.<\/p>\n In many churches and much of public life today, Ascension Day is scarcely noted. In some countries it still is a national holiday, with schools, banks, and businesses closed\u2026 whether it is celebrated in peoples\u2019 hearts or not. I do not know.<\/p>\n But Ascension Day is a holiday in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Indonesia(!), Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.<\/p>\n Ascension Day should<\/em> really be the most important celebration on the Christian calendar. My argument here is theological but certainly not dogmatic; I want to address how apologetics \u2013 explaining the Gospel \u2013 works.<\/p>\n The Annunciation? The world had to take Mary\u2019s account of her pregnancy by her word. Christmas? A beautiful picture, fulfilling prophecy in ancient books. Jesus\u2019s miracles? Coincidences or persuasions, perhaps. The Passion of the Christ? Foretold, too, but\u2026 His death? Did that prove Jesus was the Savior \u2013 and skeptics asked about the Resurrection.<\/p>\n And so forth. I flirt with blasphemy, forgive me, to make a point. We are told that with the heart one believes and is justified; and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. What do we believe, what do we confess? That Jesus is the Son of God, and God raised Him from the Dead. The final confirmation of Christ\u2019s divinity is when He rose to be again at the right hand of the Father.<\/em><\/p>\n A bodily Ascension, witnessed by many, was the final thing that could not be cast into doubt by a skeptical world.<\/p>\n Of course I believe in fulfilled prophecy, the Virgin Birth, the Incarnation, powerful miracles, the Passion and substitutionary death of Jesus, and the Resurrection. But until he rejoined the father He was not fully God again.<\/p>\n Jesus did<\/em> ascend into the clouds; He was<\/em> witnessed; and He promised<\/em> to return to redeem His saints, where we will<\/em> be caught in the clouds with Him. If you wonder whether you would still be in confusion \u2013 as, frankly, the Disciples were \u2013 after such a unique scene\u2026 note, on the linked video, that Jesus directed them to go to Jerusalem and wait. For what?<\/p>\n It was about a week away, and we shall visit ourselves in about a week.<\/p>\n + + +<\/p>\n