Ascension Sunday at St Richard Haywards Heath 13 May 2018

The liturgical year is one of our greatest teachers.

We believe as Christians that God made and loves all that is including each and everyone of us sitting in Church this morning.

God loves us so much he sent his Son down to be born as one of us – which is Christmas.

God loves us so much he allowed Jesus to suffer what human beings suffer, to live and die as one of us yet without sin – which is Lent

God loves us so much he wants us to know death isn’t the end of us in his sight – which is Easter

God loves us so much he brought Jesus up to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit down into any heart that will welcome him – which is Pentecost.

That’s Christianity in four lines – Christmas, Lent, Easter and Pentecost.

On Ascension Feast in Eastertide we recall how God loves  each and everyone of us and those gone before us on earth no less than ourselves.

The great Easter Candle stands before us today as a sign to each and everyone of the truth that Jesus and Jesus alone towers over death.

The incense burned before God rising upwards today is also a liturgical teacher suited to this week of prayer before Pentecost for which we’ll be joined on Tuesday by Bishop Richard.

The age old symbolism of incense is that of rising prayer.

The incense grains are an expensive source of fragrance.

On Ascension Feast we celebrate how the fragrance of Jesus spreads through space and time only through his passion, death and resurrection. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24)

The costly incense grains, formed over centuries in the extraordinary sap of Arabian trees, die on the charcoal to rise yielding pleasant fragrance which scripture associates with the world beyond this world. In the vision of St John the Divine, Revelation 8 verse 4 he tells us the smoke of [the] incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of an [the] angel.

On Ascension Feast we celebrate the completion of Christ’s earthly work and its being taken up to heaven. This is well expressed in the fourth verse of George Bourne’s ascension hymn, Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendour where we read these rich words:

Paschal Lamb, thine off’ring finished

once for all when thou wast slain,

in its fullness undiminished

shall for evermore remain.

Alleluia, alleluia,

Cleansing souls from ev’ry stain

In the Feasts of Christ spread across the liturgical year we read, mark and inwardly digest truths that are ‘once for all’ and yet evermore inspire and cleanse our souls. Christ, as Bourne’s hymn concludes, is risen, ascended, glorified so that we can be raised from the works of the flesh, ascend in prayer and anticipate the glory that is to be ours.

The Chinese writer Watchman Nee wrote a short commentary on the letter to the Ephesians entitled Sit, Walk, Stand to remind Christians that as Christ is ascended and seated at God’s right hand, so are we. We are to keep seated with Christ above sin, to keep walking in the Spirit and keep standing fast against the devil.

The incense we use at worship is symbol of rising prayer, of costly sacrifice, and lastly of our living in the court of heaven seated with its Monarch. God raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, we read in Ephesians and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

As Christ is risen, ascended, glorified so are we, which is why St Nicodemus could write man is the macrocosm and the whole universe is the microcosm. Because we bear God’s image we stand over and above the universe, a truth confirmed by the ascension of Christ which raises and sets humanity in the highest place of all.

For, as Paul says to the Corinthians we are the incense of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. (2 Corinthians 2:15). Our prayer is to be one with the ascended Christ, our lives united with his sacrifice in the eucharist and the fragrance in our worship is to be mirrored in the fragrance of lives lived to the praise and service of God!

In this service we take, we bless, we break, we share bread and wine and show forth God’s very great love for us and for all that is – especially recalling how Jesus was taken by God the Father on Good Friday and his body was broken on the Cross to show God’s love for us, love shared with the whole world ever since by the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.

At the eucharist we also see our lives taken by God. When we put the bread on the plate and the wine in the cup we think of ourselves placed there before God, our congregation, our town, our county, our nation, our world, its joys and sorrows, its strengths and all being placed on the altar of God which is the eucharist table to ascend to him.

In the eucharist we take, bless, break and share bread and wine

In the eucharist we see Jesus taken, blessed, broken and shared.

In the eucharist our lives also ascend to God and are made a blessing to others.  

So let’s offer ourselves in union with the ascended Christ this morning so that all that we are may be consecrated afresh to God’s praise and service with, in and through Jesus our high priest!

Blessed, praised and hallowed be our Lord Jesus Christ upon his throne in glory, in the most holy sacrament of the altar and in the hearts of all his faithful people now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Ascension Day 5th May 2016

God goes up with shouts of joy, the Lord goes up with trumpet blast. 

Sing praise for God, sing praise, sing praise to our king, sing praise. 

These verses from the 47^th Psalm are set for today’s major Christian festival of the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Festal singing, shouting, clapping and trumpeting and incense no doubt were associated with the enthronement of the kings of Israel which was pretext for affirming God's own kingship over all. As the kings took their seats the people led by the choir gave praise to God as supreme ruler. 

Christian worship builds from the Old Testament so Psalm 47 is used to mark and engage with Christ's ascension and enthronement as universal King. God's sovereignty is now exercised through his Son 'who ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come to judge the living and the dead' (Apostles' Creed) 

Jesus is Lord! God goes up with shouts of joy or in Tudor English, has 'gone up with a merry noise'. The carpenter born in Nazareth who shows the world the love, truth and power of God – he is Lord!  A life of 33 years lived at the start of our era continues the same yesterday, today and for ever through the power of an indestructible life (Hebrews 7:16b).  

Jesus is Lord, right above all that is or has been or will be. He's God’s final word to humankind. Jesus is to be the merciful last word over us all.   

God goes up with shouts of joy, the Lord goes up with trumpet blast. Sing praise for God, sing praise, sing praise to our king, sing praise. 

As we move now well into the Diocesan and Universal Year of Mercy we are consoled by the thought that God’s last word on us will be from the One who today ‘ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come to judge the living and the dead'.

He is One who shares our suffering, who knows our every weakness, living like us for 33 years yet without consent to sin. His sinlessness isn’t a setting apart from us. It’s the means by which he is able both to sympathise with us and to stand above and beyond us in our sinful frailty so as to welcome us heavenwards.

In the Feasts of Christ we read, mark and inwardly digest truths that are ‘once for all’ and yet evermore inspire and cleanse our souls. Christ is risen, ascended, glorified so that we can be raised from the works of the flesh, ascend in prayer and anticipate the favourable judgement and glory that’s for all who live in Christ.

The Chinese writer Watchman Nee wrote a short commentary on the letter to the Ephesians entitled Sit, Walk, Stand to remind Christians that as Christ is ascended and seated at God’s right hand, so are we. We are to keep seated with Christ above sin, to keep walking in the Spirit and keep standing fast against the devil.

God goes up with shouts of joy, the Lord goes up with trumpet blast. Sing praise for God, sing praise, sing praise to our king, sing praise. 

The incense today is symbol of rising prayer, of costly sacrifice, and lastly of our life to come in the court of heaven seated with its Monarch. God raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, Paul writes to the Ephesians. This is so, he continues, that we can be raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.               

So be it!

Epiphany 4.1.15 Incense

The wise men knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew 2:11 As the wise men offered worship at his birth, so Christians have for centuries burned incense in worship. 

What is Incense?  Incense is made from various aromatic resins and gums taken from trees and other plants. When burned it gives off scented smoke. In church it is normally burned in a censer or thurible. Because it is difficult to burn on its own, it is burned along with charcoal.

Why use incense in worship?  At the heart of worship in the Temple at Jerusalem was sacrifice. The sacrificial offering was usually a living thing such as a lamb or bird, but the fruits of the earth were also offered, including incense. In the Temple there was even an altar specially set aside for the burning of incense. With the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in A.D. 70 the sacrificial worship of the Old Testament came to an end. The necessity for much of it had already been brought to an end, several years before, by the all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ on the Cross.

Why did incense continue in Christian worship? Our human need to offer thanksgiving and sacrifice to God remains. In our daily lives, Christians have the opportunity to give the best of themselves back to God in the service of each other. St Paul reminds us that we are like incense.  We Christians are to be a sweet smelling  savour as we live surrendered like incense to God.  (2 Corinthians 2:15)

O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness …with gold of obedience and incense of lowliness, kneel and adore. As incense makes for a special atmosphere in Church the surrendered lives of Christians are to have something very special about them, drawing the curiosity and heart searching of those who share our life. Incense is of course a symbol of rising prayer.

One of the elements of good liturgy is the use of colour and movement provided by the use of colourful vestments, processions and the like. Singing and chanting which stimulates the sense of hearing. The use of incense enables even fuller participation in the liturgy by stimulating the sense of smell. It also provides colour, movement and sound as the thurible is swung and its chain 'chinks' and 'tinkles'.

Another aspect of Christian worship is honouring God’s royal presence. Macmillan horse smells. Used in processions before dignitaries. Compostela. In the Eucharist the use of incense draws attention to the royal presence of Christ among his people.  "Incense owns a Deity nigh", The Bible is censed to honour Christ in his word.  The Sacrament receives signal honour as his Body and Blood.  The congregation are greeted with incense to honour Christ among them.

In the Book of Revelation the burning of incense appears to be an important part of the worship of heaven. In ch.5 v.8 we read of "golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the Saints".

This whole book is symbolic, and was never intended to be taken as literally accurate. Many commentators, though believe that the writer of the book was strongly influenced by the worship, or liturgy, of his own church. When we burn incense we remind ourselves that our prayers, like the incense, ascend to the throne of God and mingle with the prayers of the Saints in heaven

Which Churches use incense? Most of Christianity use, or have used, incense in worship. All the Eastern Orthodox Churches burn incense at most of their services, or liturgies. In the 'west' the Roman Catholic Church burns incense at many of its services. The Church of England used incense throughout its history, until the mid 1600's, when it fell into disuse generally. From that time, though, it continued to be used in worship in isolated churches such as York Minster, and since the mid 19th century its use has spread and increased. In the Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy gold, incense and myrrh are offered on the Feast of Epiphany.  The incense is taken to be burnt in Church.  There is quite a waiting list I’m told.

Where’s the spiritual challenge here? At Epiphany we talk about the manifestation of Christ to the nations which is symbolized by the visit of wise men from afar. The manifestation of Christ in our own age we call evangelism, spreading the good news which is a matter of handing on the fact of God’s love shown in the historical Jesus. It is also a matter of manifesting Christ  personally, which is through our person, through the manner of our living. We are called not just to speak about Christ to the world but to be Christ in the world by our prayer and care and all that we are. 

As the incense grains have been consumed on the charcoal we’re meant to see our lives lost to God and neighbor in the sweet smelling savour of costly service.

Lord, as the wise men offered you incense, help us to make of our lives a fragrant offering to You. We ask this in the holy name of Jesus. Amen.