A Friend in High Places

                One looking for the traditional site of the Ascension may get more than anticipated!  During a summer of my M.Div. studies, I lived on the Mount of Olives with a family while doing student work in East Jerusalem.  I enjoyed walking the mountain’s terraced sloped, poking around among the old olive trees, seeing what of historical of geographical interest I could discover.  One afternoon as I approached the north end of the crest of Olivet, near where the little village of Bethphage once stood, I stumbled onto a marker noting the spot as the traditional site of the Ascension.  I was a bit surprised; hadn’t I just seen that recently—a little further north on the eastern slope of the mount—closer to Bethany?  Surely there were not two sites!

                Just this one time, couldn’t we be sure about where something happened in the Holy Land?  Actually, the exact location—or exact date--is not the most important thing.  The affirmation of the completion of Jesus’ mission and the beginning of the church’s mission is what matters.

Baptists and other free church traditions give scant notice to Ascension Day, celebrated this year on May 17^th.  Yet it marks a significant shift in understanding how the Risen Christ is both present and absent, ascended to God while dwelling in the midst of the embryonic church.  Luke alone narrates his departure forty days after the resurrection, ending his intimate time with the disciples, full of instruction about the meaning of his resurrection and their role in bearing witness throughout the earth.

                After commissioning them, “he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9).  Students of the Bible know that when a cloud appears, it usually signals a theophany, a revealing and concealing of the mysterious actions of God.

                Is there further meaning to ascension that might assist believers as they seek to “lived resurrected?”  Attested by Scripture and an article of faith in the Apostles’ Creed, the ascension testified that Jesus’ humanity was of enduring validity, and that humanity marked by death, makes an eternal home with God.  Ascended to a place of exaltation “at the right hand,” the one who rose with his wounds (as Moltmann is fond of saying), serves as broken humanity’s knowledgeable advocate.  Even in his triumphant exaltation, he continues to function as our servant, taking our woundedness upon himself.  His glory is always bound up with his self-emptying.  Luther pictured Jesus’ heavenly session as his continuing statement to humanity: “Your sin is mine and my innocence is yours.”

                We have a friend where it counts most!  God opens the divine life to us in the human person of Jesus; his ascension promises that we, too, will be drawn into eternity with God, through death to life.   You and I groan for our deepest longings, to be at one with God and one another, to be actualized; we yearn for our faith to become sight.

                The promise of the two witnesses who chided the disciples for their lingering gaze upward was that the Risen Lord would gather his followers unto himself.  His physical absence did not mean abandonment, rather a new mode of presence in an expansive reign.

                Molly T. Marshall

                                To learn more about Central’s mission to educate persons who are biblically knowledgeable and theologically articulate, continue visiting our website.

 

 

Celebrating Commencement

                A bright clear Saturday morning provided the start to a joyous commencement.  Like the tabernacle of old, Central’s graduation ceremonies move from church to church in the metro area, celebrating our partnership in preparing women and men for effective ministry.  Whereas the church can get along without the seminary (not well, in my opinion), the seminary will always rely on the church as the primary context to exercise the calling and gifts for ministry.

                This year we gathered at Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, a beacon of leadership in the urban core.  Dr. Wallace S. Hartsfield II, pastor at this good church as well as Fred E. Young Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible at Central, is a scholar-practitioner and offers witness for our students about how to weave good scholarship, congregational life, and community activism together.

                We celebrated the graduation of the first create cohort, which was particularly significant since we had as our commencement speaker Dr. Michael Gilligan, President of the Henry Luce Foundation.  A grant from the Luce Foundation has funded our global immersion experience in Thailand and Myanmar for create cohorts.  In addition, these generous funds have underwritten the collaborative Doctor of Ministry degree with Myanmar Institute of Theology as well as continuing education for resettled persons from Burma (Myanmar).

                In addition to those receiving the M.A. in Missional Church Studies, M.A. in Theological Studies, and Master of Divinity, twelve students completed Certificates in Ministry Studies through Central’s FOUNDATIONS program.  Begun in the fall of 2010, this unique approach to ministry preparation requires completion of ten courses that strengthen pastoral and lay work in congregations.  While a baccalaureate degree is not required, some have that prerequisite and move toward graduate level studies.  For those who do not, particularly those for whom English is not their first language, the certificate offers a way to gain proficiency for leadership that is accessible.  Central deeply cares about providing different entry points for learners to enter theological studies and perform successfully.

                The commencement address, “Setting Out in the Season of the Empty Tomb,” reminded us all that the risen Christ is with us—not just immediately after the resurrection—but now, calling us to cast out our nets once again.  Reflecting on the great text in John 21 where Jesus gathers once more with his disciples—after they have returned to fishing—Dr. Gilligan offered assurance that one does not set out alone.  Not only is he with us, but he will even cook fish for us to nourish us and strengthen us for further work.  As Dr. Gilligan moved among board members, faculty, students, and friends of the seminary, we perceived we had an remarkable christopher, a Christ-bearer, in our midst as he entered the Central story and called us to  a more expansive mission.

                Celebrating the 110^th commencement brings joy to faithful faculty, alumni/ae, graduates, board members, and friends.  God has sustained our mission since 1901, and we give thanks!

                                Molly T. Marshall

                                                To learn more about how Central provides accessible and affordable ministry preparation, continue visiting our website.