Belated happy Feast of the Ascension. Tonight (er, a few hours ago during Thursday night), I went to the first service I have ever gone to that focused on the Ascension. This, I learned, is one of the most important feast days of the Church year. The Ascension ushered in a new era in our relationship to Jesus Christ, and was the culmination of his time on earth. Not many people were at the service, unfortunately.

The way Fr. David, the priest at Blessed Sacrament, described the event's significance was that Christ's relationship to man went from particular to cosmic. While on earth Christ was more evidently present than he is now, he was also only available to those few hundred people who actually saw and talked to him. Now, outside of our realm, he is available to all mankind. Much of the rest of the sermon Fr. David talked about the means God has provided for us to reach Christ now that he is available for us, but less evident. Ultimately this is through faith, but involves the reading of scripture, the sacraments, and other Christians' love.

An interesting Biblical thought that I came away with, as well, was from the Old Testament reading from the cyclical. It was the ascension of Elijah. Elijah's ascension in the fiery chariot was more dramatic than Christ. But Christ will come again in martial glory. I thought that Elisha might be reckoned as the Church, and that Elijah might be reckoned as Christ in an allegorical interpretation with edifying results.