Luke writes the Acts of the Apostles after he wrote his Gospel, “In the first book… I dealt with all that Jesus did until the day he ascended.” At his ascension Jesus told the people, “You will receive power when the Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses… to the ends of the earth.”
The Feast of the Ascension celebrates “All that Jesus did,” which was to bring forth the Spirit’s “power” for the people. People began relating not as subordinates but in powerful communion, not justifying abuse but as powerful lovers, not sanctifying violence but as powerful healers. Pierre Teilhard, a scientist and spiritual guide, referred to Jesus’ powerful people’s movement as the Divine Milieu. He meant all creation, certainly every human being, is a spark of Divinity, an embodied dynamism bringing all life into the Fullness of Being. Whoever or whatever diminishes our power – attempting to make us subordinate, or abuse us, or violate us, we thus powerfully convert into that which is whole, loving, healing. One diminishment of people’s power is Militarism. It is the subordinating, abusive, and violent religion spanning the world. Militarism diminishes people by making holy the ruling ranked supremacists who subordinate us. It diminishes people by justifying the abuse rulers inflict upon us. Militarism diminishes people by sanctify the violence rulers do to us. It explains why rulers, including within institutional christianity, pervert Jesus’ power message about the Spirit and the Community of God by heralding the cross instead. Rulers do not herald our power directed toward raising up the subordinated, loving our enemy, and acting as a healer. Rulers herald the cross. Heralding the cross heralds all weapons that makes rulers holy for subordinating women and immigrants and journalists, and makes just their abusing people who are gay and trans and artists, and makes salvific the violence they do to Iraqis and unborn children and people on death row. Under Militarism’s subservience, abuse, and violence weapons are not a problem, they are the solution. Thus it is not a problem that the innocent, including little school children, are subordinated, abused, or violated. Our minds cannot entirely visit the carnage ravaged upon our little ones at Robb Elementary in Uvalde Texas. Our hearts are scorched by this ordeal of so many more children and so many more families suffering. Our bodies feel paralyzed by the many more sparks of Divinity murdered in Texas. Yet, in this our time, we must be filled with the power of communion, of love, and of healing. Ours is the power to keep co-creating the Community of God. Our power is meant to convert members of the cult of Militarism – to the ends of the earth.
We can keep practicing communion, love, and healing power, for example, through Social Emotional Learning (SEL). It is not perfect, nor does it satisfy all that is possible and yes it can be noted as ambiguous and glossed by hype. It is simply one expression of communion, of love, of healing power. As such it is being subordinated, abused, and violated by Militarists, for example, those at the American Enterprise Institute and Fox News. Amidst the carnage of gun violence that AEI and Fox directly cause, these Militarists abuse SEL as socialist. But the name calling just means it challenges the rulers and nurtures communion. They attack SEL as making children soft, meaning it won’t train them to be yet another good guy with a gun killing others and shows them instead how to love others. They attack SEL as therapeutic education, meaning SEL doesn’t violate children but heals children. Social Emotional Learning is a “process through which all young people… acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions,… feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.” (CASEL) Ascension celebrates people’s power. It happens after the child of God who is Jesus of Nazareth has been viciously murdered but whose Spirit will not die. Let this Ascension be an expression of power after the children of God who are Robb Elementary are viciously murdered. Let our collective Spirit not die but rise up, powerfully witnessing communion, love, and healing to the ends of the earth.’
Prayer: Spirit, we vow to raise up powerful children?
Question: What am I doing with my power?
May 29, 2022 Gospel Luke 24:46-53 Feast of the Ascension