Ascension

Today is the Feast of the Ascension, which can be a Somewhat Troubling Idea to many of us post-Enlightenment types. I remember hearing someone, and I think it was Bishop Spong, telling about how Carl Sagan used to chide him about the whole ascension thing . . . Carl Sagan said that if Jesus just rose up into the sky, he'd end up in orbit, and if so, then he's still out there, going 'round and 'round. But of course he couldn't be out there going 'round and 'round or we'd have seen him with our telescopes. And from then on, every time Carl Sagan saw Bishop Spong (or whomever it was that I heard this from), he would say, "He's still up there, going 'round and 'round!" Of course, this story could be apocryphal; who knows?

Anyway, here is a link to Padre Mickey (aka The Rev. Michael Dresbach, an Episcopal priest in Panama) at his Dance Party blog for a thoughtful reflection on the Feast of the Ascension. He 'splains it much better than I can.