Ascension Day raises questions and offers hope

Thursday is Ascension Day. Many churches will also mark it on Sunday, but unlike Easter, it will draw little attention. Two thoughts immediately come to mind when I think about the doctrine of the ascension: one comic, and one imaginative.
A friend of mine in seminary had just finished writing his Presbyterian ordination exams. "How'd it go?" I asked. "Bad," he said, shaking his head. "The theology exam was all about the doctrine of the ascension. I couldn't think of what to say so I just wrote, ‘Beam me up, Jesus.'"
It was true. Little time in class had been spent discussing Christ's ascension. I suspect that has resulted in few Presbyterian sermons about the ascension.
That is too bad. Though the meaning of the ascension may be hard for some to understand, it carries important theological significance. Much more than Jesus being beamed upward, the ascension offers believers tangible promises of hope and power.
But many of us face the same problems my friend did. How do we speak of an event that defies easy explanation?
I think this is where imagination comes into play.
The references in the New Testament which speak of Jesus' ascension require some theological understanding. For example, when Luke, in Acts 1:1-11 writes of Jesus' ascension, he is describing the event from the experience of the bewildered and anxious disciples. Yes, they know Christ to have been raised. But they are still confused (see Acts 1:6). Jesus, however, imagines another possibility. He yearns for them to become apostles, to be messengers, the sent out ones. They are to become witnesses to all they have seen and believed in him.
That is the promise he offers as he ascends. Reformer John Calvin put it this way, "As his body was raised up above all the heavens, so his power and energy were diffused and spread beyond all the bounds of heaven and earth." The ascension anticipates the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit will change these individuals into a community.
The issue for me is not about explaining how or where Jesus went. The issue, as I see it, is one of theological imagination. In the ascension, we are called to imagine where God is about to call us. In Acts, Luke reminds us angels called out the disciples. "Why are you looking up?" In other words, suggests Ken Carter, be faithful and get to work.
Where is our mission?
That was on my mind Sunday as I listened to my daughters' share their experience of helping a friend from Joplin whose family lost their home. It was on my mind as I watched our congregation box up food for Circle of Concern in Valley Park. Where is our mission? Where are we called to go? In faith, the ascension becomes a vision that both lifts us in hope, and calls to us get to work.
Remember the old French film "The Red Balloon?" It was the standard "rainy day" activity during my elementary years. Pascal, a young boy, has a bright red balloon with a mind of its own. It follows him throughout the streets of Paris, taking him on all sorts of adventures. It draws inquisitive looks from others, causes a ruckus at school, but still manages to capture his heart. It isn't long before a gang of other kids become jealous and destroy Pascal's balloon. But suddenly, without warning, balloons from across the city swarm on the young boy-lifting him high above Paris. His ascent is a marvel, a witness of joy and love.
My imagination leads me to believe that in the ascension of Christ, we are also lifted up like young Pascal. We are lifted up to share the story of Christ, sent to be witnesses of all that God has done, and still hopes to do through us.