Ascension and Ascetics

How was your Mother's Day? You probably aren't a mother but you sure have one. Say hi to your mom(that was for you Amanda and never again will I say it).

My mother's day started off by attending church. The sermon I heard this morning was very enjoyable. I suppose a better way of putting it is that God spoke to me through the sermon. My pastor preached on the ascension of Jesus and the training of the twelve. Something that I really honed in on was truths my pastor made about Christ's ascension. One was that when Christ died, God sent the Holy Spirit and all Christians were henceforth gifted to worship God and proclaim his good news. To give a clearer description, here is Romans 12:4-8:

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

Another truth that was mentioned in the sermon this morning had to do with the manner in which Jesus sought to reach the world. Jesus, in effect, reproduced his life in a few others. He never went to the large city centers where thousands of people dwelled. He seeked out individuals and taught them how to live faithfully. Those people he sought out went to others and taught them the same thing Jesus taught.

It doesn't really seem to make sense for Jesus to seek out individuals instead of large crowds, but consider this analogy: suppose Billy Graham preaches to 100,000 different people every day for a month and they all become Christians. He would reach 3 million people for Christ. Now suppose I go to my friend and genuinely reproduce my faith in that person. Then the next day the two of us each went to a different person and did the same thing. If that trend continued for a month with each additional Christian going to a new person, you would reach over 1 billion people for Christ in a month! Just think if we all lived with that attitude. Looking back at Jesus' ministry, it made a lot of sense for him to seek individuals.

Continuing with the book I have been reading, "Sacred Pathways," the chapter I read today focused on ascetics. The ascetic is a person who seeks to grow closer to God through three categories: solitude, austerity, and strictness. After reading the chapter I would somewhat consider myself an ascetic. I am a person who at times loves to live in austerity. Sometimes at home I find myself sitting on the couch or my bed deep in thought, thinking about everything from what I'm going to do later in the day or how to improve my relationship with Christ.

With solitude, I love getting up extremely early in the morning to read my Bible and sit outside(that's the naturalist in me coming out). Sometimes I feel closest to God when I can get up at 5 a.m.(a seemingly impossible task, especially during the summer) and sit outside before dawn has broke. One of the times when I felt closest to God was when I was in the mountains in Colorado during a sunrise peak climb. Although I was with other people, I loved standing on a mountainside with a full moon and magnificent stars above. Far to the south was a small town lit up in the night. If you have never gotten up at 5 a.m. to sit outside, it is definitely worth trying. Get up before sunrise and sit outside reading your Bible or praying with God. For me it is truly an uplifting experience.

Another aspect of ascetics that Thomas discusses is working. One thing he points out is that Jesus was a laborer for ninety percent of his life. An important Christian, Benedict, urged his monks to look at the tools of the monastery as if they were the vessels of the altar. Thomas says, "When we recognize that the strength and ability to work is God's gift to us to help us provide for our needs and the needs of our families, the use of that energy and skill becomes an affirmation of the God who created and sustains us." In addition to that, our work or anything we do in our lives should be an act of worship toward God(going back to what my pastor preached on).

One more thing that Thomas points out is how ascetics draw near to God through hardship. Doesn't it make sense that any hardships we go through should strengthen us? All too often, we want to be pampered(this is very easy for Americans to do in a culture filled with technology at our fingertips). I am not saying saying I am one who prospers in hardship but I have found at certain times in my life, I have grown the most in God when I experience hardships.

The second time I went to Colorado backpacking, I thought it would really be a breeze for me. Much to my surprise, it was not a breeze. The first day on the trail I was literally fighting an uphill battle with a 40 pound backpack on my back. The hike was on a trail that climbed about 1000-2000 vertical feet. About halfway through the day, I was ready to break down because my back was in so much pain. I truly had to rely on God to make it to camp that night.

Thomas puts it well when he says, "When sickness, heat, cold, hunger, or tiredness come -- and they will -- we can either adopt a demanding spirit and stunt our spiritual growth, or embrace them, learn form them, and mature in our faith. Our attitude will make all the difference." I encourage everyone to use trials that come your way to grow in your faith.

Looking ahead to tommorrow, I have my first lesson of the summer with my former teacher. I hope this summer I will be diligent enough to really hone in on the areas where I need to improve. I have ordered some new music recently which is very exciting. They include: the clarinet parts to Tschaikowsky's 4th symphony and Beethoven's 6th symphony and Clarinet Concerto No. 1 by Weber. For the two symphonies I will be studying the parts for the future. Later in the summer I hope to order the clarinet part for "Scheherezade." If you're looking for a great place to order complete orchestral parts, search, "Luck's Music Library," in Google.

The Weber concerto will definitely be a challenge to me this summer as it has many difficult runs. At the same time I am excited because it is very romantic(musically speaking). I love how Weber wrote clarinet solos that sound like opera arias and this concerto does not fall short of that.