pentecost ember days

we have just come through the great fifty days, the church's annual reliving of what michael carroccino calls "mind-boggling" events. now we come to the pentecost ember days, three days to consider, once again, who are we, where are we, what are we doing here? we consider these questions once again in a context that exists both in time and in eternity, both on earth, and in the kingdom of heaven.

once again the great circle of time as the church observes it has come around to a place from which we can, perhaps, know

"when the tongues of flame are in-folded
in the crowned knot of fire
and the fire and the rose are one."

we are invited, by the one who became flesh, died in flesh, rose in flesh, ascended in flesh that the holy spirit might come to dwell in our flesh, to eternal life. at its simplest, most literal meaning, eternal life simply means life outside of time. but to participate in that life outisde of time we must allow our life in time to be sanctified as well. that is how the circle in time becomes the ascending spiral into eternity. we must comprehend time before we can live in eternity. i always find t. s. eliot's four quartets helpful at the ember days. eliot ceaselessly sought to understand time, and knew, as he wrote in what must be the most oft-quoted english words of the past century,

"we shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time."

nor will we be ready for the kingdom of heaven until we welcome god's will on earth. eliot said "history is now and england." until we understand life here on earth, we will continue to be the children in the apple tree, eating the pre-mature fruit.

how slow we human-kind, who cannot bear very much reality, are to admit that

"time present and time past
are both perhaps present in time future."

we eat now the forbidden fruit, and the thrush and all creation groan. we bore now holes in the floor of the sea and the fishes and all creation groan.

"we die with the dying:
see, they depart, and we go with them.
we are born with the dead:
see, they return and bring us with them.

. . . a people without history
is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern
of timeless moments. . . .
history is now and england."


history is now and the gulf of mexico. time present will remain far into time future, as we continue to be born with the dead.

the matins readings this week have been from john's gospel. on monday, "jesus said to nicodemus, 'god so loved the world . . . god sent not his son to condemn the world.'" on wednesday, "jesus said to the multitudes . . . : 'no man can come to me, unless the fther which hath sent me draw him.'"

what shall we seek? for what shall we explore?

"with the drawing of this love and the voice of this calling

we shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and to know the place for the first time."

(quotes from four quartets ("burnt norton" i, "little giddding, "v", copyright 1937, t. s. eliot.)

cur deus homo: ascension and pentecost

ascension day has been down-graded in the western church since vatican ii. caught up in the great-history-of-religion-only understanding of christianity that seems to prevail in so many seminaries and popular "theologians," the gargamel of the "early church's" celebration of the great fifty days has taken all. i first noticed this when i first began to enter the great church, but i didn't know it. the rector at my parish was old-school, and blew out the paschal candle on ascension day. i, having read all the lastest stuff, was of course horrified. (and of course octaves have been "suppressed," so not much mention was made of ascension in the days following, a situation that has become more true with the new common lectionary.)

but there is, i have found, wisdom in the older understanding of the importantce of the ascension, which was brought home to me yesterday in a wonderfully non-western-arrogant way. a friend, who is vicar of a near-by episcopal church, was having tea with me, and said that in that church she held an ascension day service, to which only two other people came. one was an elderly chinese woman, whose father had been a priest in china. indeed he seems to have been a priest in the old nestorian succession, which still exists in china and which has continued to maintain its lineage even though the government denies its existence. he had taught her that the feast of the ascension is the most important feast of the year, even more important than christmas.

if god became man so that man might become god, as anselm of canterbury and many other theologians have suggested, then then ascension of christ is the moment, if there is only one moment, when our humanity is taken into the kingdom of heaven. god the son takes on our humanity, and takes it to the right hand of the father.

this is not the only moment this happens, of course. it happens each time we celebrate the liturgy. we who represent the cherubim, leave beside all earthly cares. only after our nature has been purified by the "life creating trinity" can we receive the gift of the holy spririt.