God's "A" Game ~ Part 1

From what I understand, “A” Game refers to a person or a team’s best effort or performance on a given day.  This Sunday, we celebrate – liturgically – the feast of the Ascension.  This is truly God’s “A” Game!  Well, maybe this is one of many “best efforts” by our God to let us know that we matter, and that we are loved “totally, tenderly, and tenaciously.” The meaning of the Ascension cannot be truly understood literally, but simply needs to be embraced as a “mystery”.

 
As I pondered this mystery, I thought of the recent space shuttles that have ridden piggy-back upon the 747 jets.  Wow!  Such force, thrust, and power to carry the weight of these shuttles. These orbiters were powered with a thunderous liftoff by external fuel tanks – all designed to achieve the 135 missions of the space program. 

Come to think of it, Jesus was a real special effects artist; he experienced liftoff as well - at least twice, and had a mission here and beyond space!  To further reflect, he ascended without the assistance of any shuttle.  What if we say that it was his mission and intense love that moved him onward and upward?  He returned to God’s loving embrace after setting the energy of passion, purpose, and call into the hearts of all his disciples.

So today, I share with you Part I of my reflection on the feast of the Ascension. I will be using the Gospel of John 14:15-21 for my Scripture reference.

The story is told that in Valladolid, Spain, where Christopher Columbus died in 1506, stands a monument commemorating this great discoverer. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the memorial is a statue of a lion destroying one of the Latin words that had been part of Spain’s motto for centuries.  Before Columbus made his voyages, the Spaniards thought they had reached the outer limits of earth.  Thus, their motto was ‘Ne Plus Ultra,’ which means, ‘No More Beyond.’   The word being torn away by the lion is ‘Ne’ or ‘No,’ thus it reads, ‘Plus Ultra.’ Columbus had proven that there was indeed ‘more beyond.’ 

In the Gospel, Jesus proclaims that there is ‘more beyond’ this farewell to his friends and his impending death.  He holds one last lesson in Discipleship 101 about the mysteries of the reign of God and the gift of the Spirit that will propel these followers into they “know not what.”   

This final teaching is all part of the revelation of what is called the Paschal Mystery.  It is Jesus’ suffering and death, resurrection, ascension, and the sending of the Spirit.  These sacred mysteries form a “seamless garment,” so to speak, one single movement - the passing of Jesus from life, through death, to life and to the more beyond!  

In today’s celebration of letting go of the Easter season, we are invited to let go of our linear thinking and to stand in the space of accepting and embracing Mystery.  It is the mystery that there is  “more beyond” this paschal moment revealed by Jesus the Christ – a more beyond  that is an intimate, forever, eternal, everlasting, never ending, timeless, priceless, unconditional love relationship with our God in which Jesus will be with us until the end of the age and beyond!

As we ponder this Gospel, it gives us an indication that Jesus knew what it was like to go through painful times, moments in which he felt emptiness, deep loss, and the hurt of leaving behind.
Here in his praying his goodbye – “he is not spared the ache and struggle of letting go”.   One author writes: “he knew the price of goodbyes. They had been with him all his life because he was so fully human, so much like all of us who travel the hello-goodbye-hello pattern of the human journey.”