In last Sunday's sermon, Mother Storm preached on the Ascension of Jesus, noting how the story isn't so much about the ascent or Ascension of Jesus as it is about Jesus pointing us down to earth.
This story is not as much to me about the ascent or Ascension of Jesus as it is about Jesus pointing us down to earth.
There’s a tradition of footprints in a rock. If you go to the Shrine of the Ascension outside Jerusalem there’s this rock there, with Jesus’ footprints in it, marking the spot where he went up into heaven. Of course it’s some geological formation from back in deep time millions of years ago. But that doesn’t make it any less profound, in my opinion.
You find this in Buddhism, too, the tradition of the Buddha’s footprints in the rock, to show the groundedness required of the spiritual life. Paradoxically we think the spiritual life is about rising up above everything, when really it’s about planting your two feet in the ground, on this earth, where you belong right now, and making your mark, your impression, on it.
