Thursday, May 13, 2021                    (today’s lectionary)
Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord
Why not flyÂÂÂÂ
Given a few minutes of conversation, I nearly always ask people what they’re reading. Yesterday three of my friends were reading … a book on ADHD called Driven to Distraction, Lost Light by Michael Connelly (a Harry Bosch novel), and The Prince by Nicholas Machiavelli. I’m reading Gates of the Alamo by Stephen Harrigan and The Legacy of Pope Benedict XVI by Charles A. Coulombo.
What are you reading?
I remember my Rule of Life, which starts with READ. The other activities that mark meaning for me each day follow from the reading … WRITE, LISTEN, PRAY. Generally I believe what I read, and have little trouble imagining myself into a story or description. When I take my time, I see new pictures on every page or every chapter.
Accomplished audiobook readers add character voices. When they ring true, they are like the harmonics on my guitar, and the hair on my arms might even stand on end. Terrell Mott, Edmund McGowan and Telesforo Villa-Senor walk right into my living room.
And there is more. Musical accompaniment brings Paul’s letter to the Ephesians alive. I pluck my guitar strings, and begin to sing the words. A melody appears, and appears, and appears.
May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of your heart be enlightened.
I don’t need to remember the melody, it’s more than enough to be accompanied in the song by the Holy Spirit. Over and over the words deserve repeating, and they become refrains happened upon, like wildflowers on a desert path.
Miles sings this way. One day he’ll be choosing chords and notes, and he’ll be singing words that he reads, but for now he simply strums and sings what appears the instant before in his mind. He never slows down to keep track of what he sang a moment before. His theme is always God’s love. Mostly his songs sound more like Gregorian chants than melodic folk songs, and that emphasizes his simple words about God all the more.
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
Miles has nearly completed a 100 lesson learn-to-read book with Andi, but even so, he resists reading most of the time. I think he wants to appreciate the cloud of unknowing for just a little longer. And for sure he does not want to give up being read TO by people who LOVE him. Plus, the cuddling that goes along with the reading matters very much, to his skin and deep down into his soul.
WHY are you standing there looking at the sky? God mounts his throne to shouts of joy, a blare of trumpets for our Lord.
This strikes me as a fine day to imagine ascending into heaven. When we fly our kite everyone wants to be up there. No one can stop looking at the sky. And that is just like Jesus, who pulls our eyes upward to the blue beyond, seeking out our Father, looking at him smiling as he slowly rises and disappears. Can you imagine? Watching? Being drawn up in his warmth, cuddled, eyes wide open, listening to the music of the spheres, hearing his words again and again?
Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.
Read the words. Listen to the music. Rise up and fly.
(Acts 1, Psalm 47, Ephesians 1, Ephesians 4, Matthew 28, Mark 16)
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