In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

     Now that our daughter, Rebekah, has married into the Army, we're having to learn a whole new lingo. As Christopher lives in Indianapolis, and Rebekah is now in Hinesville, Georgia with her new husband, we decided to invite them all down to Orlando for a week in June, so that we could all be together again. Things are uncertain for Bek's husband, Bill-as their orders keep shifting about when his unit will be sent back to Iraq, so Susan was talking with Bek this week about whether or not Bill will be able to come to Orlando. Bek said they're going to do everything they can so that Bill can come-because he'd really like to be there. To which Susan replied, "Well, we want Bill to be there too, but tell him not to go "AOL". To which Bek replied, "you mean 'AWOL'?" Well, that, too. I mean, you've really got to stay away from AOL these days-but what my beloved wife meant to say was, we don't want Bill to get into trouble by going absent without leave. Don't worry, we'll adjust to having a son-in-law in the Army.

     And speaking about being AWOL--do you know that one of the reasons many folks are not believers in Jesus-one of the reasons many Christians turn away from Jesus, is because they think of Jesus as AWOL? It's amazing that in the accounts of Jesus' ascension in Holy Scripture, it doesn't appear that the disciples had a hard time with Jesus' departure from this world. And that may be because, as we've heard these last few Sundays, Jesus tried hard to explain to his disciples at the Last Supper, that he would be leaving them, not just in his crucifixion and death, but also in his ascension into heaven, to the seat of power, at the Father's right hand. Jesus, in the Farewell Discourses, spoke clearly about what was to come, and how it would happen that he would depart from this world. And for all their confusion and inability to understand all these things before Good Friday and Easter, at this point, after Jesus' ascension, they did seem to get it. St. Luke tells us that after Jesus was taken up into heaven, they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple blessing God. In his second volume, the Acts of the Apostles, Luke continues to describe the actions of the disciples after the ascension, saying, they returned to Jerusalem, entered the city and went to the upper room where they were staying, and they were constantly devoting themselves to prayer. After Jesus ascended, they seemed to be getting it. We, on the other hand, don't always seem to get it. At least, some of us don't seem to get it. After all this time, after all that has happened since Jesus ascended, with the mess our world is in today-some people just see Jesus as AWOL. And some won't believe in Jesus, for just that reason. And some who have been believers, turn away, because they feel Jesus has left his duty post, and left us alone, and left us to fend for ourselves. Which couldn't be further from the truth, but there it is-that's how it appears, to some, today.

     And we have to admit, it's hard not to think that. For those who don't know everything that was written about Jesus in the Law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms-for those who don't understand the Scriptures, and how the Messiah was to suffer and rise from the dead, and then ascend into heaven, as was God's plan from the beginning-it just looks like Jesus left us. In our lesson from Acts, we hear, "as they were watching, Jesus was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight." In Ephesians, Paul writes, "God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority, and power and dominion, and above every name that is named." It sure sounds like Jesus left this world, and left us to our own devices. The accounts agree, without a doubt, that Jesus was taken up into heaven, and there he was seated at the right hand of the Father. If that's all you read, or know, you might think Jesus is absent. And then, when you look around, when you consider the world, and the turmoil, and the violence, and the terrorism, and the war-when you look around at loved ones struggling with cancer and cancer treatments, when you see children who diagnosed with leukemia, when you see families wrestling with divorce, and children suffering because mommy and daddy can't get along; when you can't help but see the homeless and the hungry in our world-not just in Africa, but here, in the First World. And as we see the world as it is, as we wrestle with illness and grief and crime and injustice-is it any wonder that some, at least some, cry out, why have you left us, Jesus? Where are you, now, when we need your help so desperately? And as I said, it's not just unbelievers who cry out in frustration. Sometimes we can feel alone and lonely, when we're sitting up late at night, in the darkness of despair, uncertainty or anxiety. Sometimes we feel abandoned, when we're sitting by our child's bed in the hospital. Sometimes we feel Jesus has left us, when our lives seem out of control, and we are without a job, without a stable income; when we are sick, or dying, or depressed. Then, even we believers, can find our faith shaken, and we are possessed by our fear that Jesus has forsaken us, and given up on us-and he's AWOL. And of course, that's why we observe the Festival of the Ascension in the Church-to be reminded, to have proclaimed to us, the good news, that Jesus' ascension, is not a withdrawal-that Jesus' move to the right hand of God the Father in heaven, is not a retreat, nor is the Ascension, the assurance, that Jesus has left us on our own. This festival is about Jesus returning to the Father, in His physical, resurrected body, so that He would no longer be tied to time and space. This festival is about Jesus ascending, as the risen Jesus, born in Bethlehem to a human mother, crucified to die a human death in a human body, risen to new life, but still, in a human body-still, tied to time and space-so that He could still, only be in one place at one time. Had Jesus remained on this earth, even in his resurrected body, He would only be able to be in one hospital room at a time, in only one home with one family at a time, He would only be able to be with one Army unit in Iraq at a time. In that sense, Jesus would have to be the jet-setting Jesus, keeping an unbelievable schedule trying to get around to be with all of us, to see all of us who need to be seen, and still, truly, Jesus would find it impossible to be everywhere He wanted to be, everywhere we need Him to be-were He still here in His earthly, albeit risen, body. As one of his lowly under-shepherds, I know how impossible it is to be everywhere I want to be, or need to be, given human limitations, and the great needs that exist every day, for ministry and pastoral care. And I have only one parish to minister to! How could Jesus, in His physical body, minister to the world? How could we ever hope to even see Jesus, once in lifetime, if he had remained here on earth, as Jesus of Nazareth?

     The Ascension, is God's solution to the problem. The Ascension is Jesus, transcending time and space, being freed from being both human and divine on earth, so that returning to His heavenly seat of glory, returning to His being in one nature, His divine nature only, He might then be present, not just here and there, like some globe-trotting celebrity, but everywhere at once. The Ascension of Jesus makes it possible, not for Jesus to be absent, but for Jesus to be omniscient and omni-present-present -knowing all things, seeing all things, being everywhere at the same time, without restrictions! Jesus ascended, so that the Spirit could descend, because it would be the power of the Holy Spirit which would make Jesus present, not just in a little village in the middle-East, but everywhere, with everyone-at all times-whether we feel we need him or not. This is why Jesus says, in the Great Commission in Matthew 28, "and lo, I am with you always, even to the close of the age". Jesus is not, nor has he ever been, apart from us, or distant-but God's plan is, to be, in Jesus, Emmanuel-God with us. And the Ascension, and Pentecost, make His presence possible.

     St. Chrysostom said in a sermon, "Jesus promised to be not only with these first disciples, but also with all who would subsequently believe after them. Jesus speaks to all believers as if to one body. Do not speak to me, he says, of the difficulties you will face, for 'I am with you' as the one who makes all things easy." That's an interesting understanding St. Chrysostom has of Jesus' presence with us-that Jesus is with us as the one who makes all things easy! And yet, Jesus himself says, "my yoke is easy and my burden is light." And how can we think of life, as easy, just because Jesus is with us? It is because Jesus helps us to carry our burdens. It is because Jesus comes with God's grace, and God's grace eases our burdens, and strengthens weak knees, and uplifts and encourages we who are weighed down with grief and loss and illness and struggle. Life can be easy, or bearable, or acceptable when Jesus is with us, because Jesus takes our cross upon himself, and carries it for us-and we then find ourselves, and load, lighter, easier, more possible for us to bear. And, how then do we know Jesus is with us? How do we know He is with us always, even to the close of the age? How can we know for sure, that He who ascended, descends to us still, to walk with us, to guide us, to grace us with His presence? We know, because we have His Spirit, at work in and through, His Word, and His Holy Sacrament. There are surely other ways that Christ comes to us-but here, we can be certain, that Jesus is with us.in the Word made flesh-in Holy Scripture-and in the Word made flesh, in the bread and wine that become His body and blood. Here, we can be assured, that Christ is with us and goes with us-in the Word we hear and take to heart, and in the Body and Blood of our Lord, which we eat and drink and which course through our veins, and become one with every cell and synapse of our body, mind and spirit.

     To emphasize the reality of Holy Communion-that in this Sacrament, we receive the very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, who ascended to heaven, to descend to us as God incarnate, St. Cyril of Jerusalem instructed Christians to receive the Lord's Body and Blood with the hands cupped together, as a throne to receive the King. Philoxenus, a bishop of the Syrian Orthodox Church, in the fifth and sixth centuries, instructs that when you have taken the presence of the Lord in communion, you should bow, put your hands before your face and worship the living body, saying, "I carry you, living God who is incarnate in the Sacrament, and I embrace you in my hands, Lord of the worlds whom no world has contained. You have circumscribed yourself in a fiery coal within a fleshly palm-you, Lord, who with your palm measured out the dust of the earth. You are holy, God incarnate in my hands in a fiery coal which is a body. See, I hold you, although there is nothing that contains you; a bodily hand embraced you, Lord of natures whom a fleshly womb embraced. Within a womb you became a circumscribed body, and now with a hand you appear to me as a small morsel."

     Should you ever doubt that Jesus is present with you and for you, simply come to communion, hold the real presence of Christ before your face, and welcome Him, in these words of Philoxenus-words of worship and adoration and acceptance. And then, leave, reassured, that Christ is with you-in every moment of your week, whether at work, or at home, or in the doctor's office, or in the surgical suite, or in the counselor's office, or at the graveside. Know, that Christ, our Risen, Ascended Lord, is also God with us-God with you, always, and forever!

     In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.