Last Sunday afternoon the group of junior confirmation candidates Ten in number Were given a private tour of St. Paul’s Cathedral by the Dean of the Cathedral The Very Rev’d David Richardson Who was extremely generous with his time And also his patience and humour And willing to go where the kids really wanted to go That is – up the stairs leading to the spire Into doors that have been closed for decades And down into the crypt – or at least part of the way into it Where six people including two former Archbishops of Melbourne are buried: The Dean also explained to our group the theological shape of the building And that shape is true of the cathedral as it is for this Church In that the design and the architecture of the Church Resembles that of the journey or pilgrimage of the Christian life itself We enter through the main doors – and near the entrance is usually the baptism font Which symbolises the way in which we enter the life of the church At St. Paul’s cathedral one’s vision is immediately then directed along the main aisle of the nave to the high altar And above the high altar is a mosaic depicting the ascension of Jesus His rising up in glory to rule and to reign in the heavens That we are of course gathered here to celebrate tonight: This reminds us that our journey is – from baptism, through the middle of the church and our lives, All the time proceeding toward ascension and the final sharing of God’s glory in his eternal kingdom Just as our journey into the cathedral directs us toward this goal So too our lives as Christian men and women on earth The ascension of our Lord is of course a culmination and an ending in many ways It is the culmination of the earthly ministry and presence of Jesus It is his returning to the heavens form whence he came as the god child born to the blessed Virgin Mary With of course the promise tat he will return again in like manner For us – it marks the culmination of the season of Easter The end of the forty days of that great feast of the Church. For Luke, who alone among the Gospel writers describes it for us in his second volume - the Acts of the Apostles The ascension of Jesus is an event of great importance It is a divine event This conveyed by the presence of the cloud – symbolising what the Rabbi’s called the Shekhinah glory of God The cloud of the very presence of God himself And the two men who are two angelic witnesses The language is pictorial and theological And the point of it is summed up by the last words Jesus gives those who gathered around him Which are very similar both in the Acts and at the end of Matthew’s Gospel Now Go, be witnesses of all I did and said, and make disciples of other people The divine commission is a like a passing of the baton – to use that analogy The ascending, glorified, Jesus passes the baton to the apostles and their successors – and through them to us The two angels provide the impetus they – and we – need Saying, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven Why are you star-gazing He told you what to do He will come back – but not yet Now get on with the task he gave you (I paraphrase) but you appreciate the point I hope let’s not spend the short time we have gazing into the heavens waiting for inspiration, or divine empowerment – that will come at Pentecost – or worse, waiting for Jesus to come back and do it for us himself let’s get on with the job of being his witnesses and of making his disciples because that’s what he told us to do You have perhaps heard of the great Italian composer Giacomo Puccini who left the world some of the greatest music and operas ever composed In 1922, aged only 64, Puccini was diagnosed with cancer Though very ill he continued to work on his opera Turandot, which many consider to be his greatest Those around him tried to convince Puccini not to waste what little time and energy he had left on something he could not possibly finish But he was determined to finish what he had started When his death was near he called his disciples – his students “If I do not finish Turandot”” he told them “I want you to finish it for me” Puccini did not finish the Turandot Immediately after his death his students gathered and collected together his scores and notes and with great care began to work on the opera The opening performance took place in 1926 It was conducted by one of Puccini's students When he reached the place where his teacher and master had stopped composing The conductor laid down his baton He turned to the audience and said “Thus far the master wrote, and then he died” Several minutes passed in silence Then he took up the baton again and smiling through his tears said “But his disciples have finished his work” tears flowed with the music and the sound of the applause went on and on let us too finish that which our risen and ascended master has left for us to do In the hope that we might hear the applause of heaven Amen. |