Everything is changed by the ascension of Christ. The ascent of man is complete, in this man. Jesus Christ has gone to God the Father. But he has not left us and the incarnation is not ended. A human sits with God. Christ is with the Father and with us. We have not returned to the stand-off and enmity between God and man. One of us has at last broken through to heaven. This human being now sits at the right hand of God, and is forever divine and human. He is our man, there, so the incarnation continues now forever. One of us has gained admittance to the palace and throne room of the great King. That Christ is with the Father does not mean that he is not with us. It does mean we do not control how he is visible or available to us.
Jesus is no longer available to us as a single figure we can be alone with. He is no longer in our grasp, but we are in his grasp. We grabbed Christ, but could not hang on to him. He grasped and holds on to us. He is holy, spiritual, with the glory of his whole company. Christ has now attached us to the people of God. They, or rather, we, stand in a line that stretches back through the door of the palace, where he sits with the Father, outside across the courtyard and out into the world. This procession stretches all the way from there to here, where we are. We are part of the procession that stretches from the Son and that loops around, and connects up, all the world. Our leader is at one end, we at the other. We do not see him, but for him this procession is one with him, is part of him. The whole procession, and all the people in it, us included, are made impregnable by his protection. His Spirit holds together the whole long train of the people of the Son and makes them holy so that they are increasingly able to look forward to his coming again in great glory.
The (RCL) readings for Ascension day are
Acts 1:1-11
In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.
Psalm 93
The Lord is king, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed, he is girded with strength. He has established the world; it shall never be moved; your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting
Ephesians 1:15-23
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, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Luke 24:44-53
Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
