On Ascension Day I zoomed early morning prayers from the quarry for the Lay Community of St Benedict. This small greening space can seem like an outdoor room with the tree canopy overhead. Wind was blowing down the valley from the east, not too hard, but enough to ruffle emerging leaves. The birds were singing. It’s beautiful place for worship.
And the air there is lovely: clear and fresh. Air is essential for Ascension Day. without air, no ascension.
Of course without air, lots of others things would be missing too, as we’ve learnt so unkindly during this COVID year. Others are still caught up in the desperate need for air, a mix of atoms and molecules we can’t even see.
Right now air is one of the things that unites us with each other and with Jesus. That sense of being united in one breath is vital to our community building. Right now all across the world, people need to remember that we breath the same air.
On a very clear day in Longdendale, with the air is very clear and the reservoir is being a huge reflecting pool, all of heaven and earth open up to what I call The Mighty Blue. May we be open to that too, to the sharing of the air and the dancing through it, to the breathing in and out, to the unity of God and humanity. To the Air!
From the remembered gospel: Jesus blessed them.
Bless us with earth, fire and water, but most of all bless us with air!
JAL: Longdendale, 13th May 2021, Ascension Day.