Thursday was the feast of the Ascension of Jesus into heaven, and our readings and collect for this seventh Sunday of Easter continue the ascension theme: namely, the enthronement of Christ at the right hand of the Father, after his resurrection. This theme is echoed in our opening prayer: "O God…you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven…" It is present in our second reading from Revelation, where the ascended Christ speaks as the reigning judge and Lord of the universe: "…I am coming soon…to repay according to everyone’s work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

Today’s gospel is part of what is known as the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus, which the evangelist John places in the context of the Last Supper. It is Jesus’ last prayer for the disciples before his death. But it not only represents Jesus’ prayer for the disciples he is about to leave (the ones at the Last Supper), but, as Reginald Fuller points out, it is "also the prayer [Jesus] continues to offer as the ascended high priest in heaven."

Indeed, today’s passage begins with Jesus’ petition: "I ask not only on behalf of these (those at the Last Supper), but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word." That is, Jesus is praying for the Church of all time, for all who have come since those first disciples—for us who have come to believe through the testimony of the first disciples.

There are two parts to the prayer of Jesus which is given us today. The first part is a petition for the Church on earth—for its unity—that we, the Church on earth—may be one. The prayer asks both for a vertical and a horizontal dimension to this unity. As Jesus and the Father know each other and love each other intimately and perfectly, so are Jesus’ disciples to come to know and love the Father and the Son—the vertical dimension. By their knowing and loving the Father and the Son, they will be united in this same knowledge and love with each other—the horizontal dimension.

This unity of the disciples with the Father, Son, and each other is essential to the Church’s mission and to her work of evangelization. The disciples are to be one with God and each other "so that the world may believe" that Jesus was sent from the Father. In other words, the Church’s unity has an evangelistic impact. The world is to be drawn to Christ by seeing in Christ’s disciples’ relationships with each other the intimate union of love and knowledge which exists between the Father and the Son. The Church’s unity is to be a mirror and reflection of the unity of the Trinity. When the Church becomes divided, and the unity of the Church is fractured, the mission of the Church suffers. Disunity does not draw people to God in Christ.

Surely, all of us have seen this and are aware of this. Dissension, strife, and quarrelling are not characteristics which attract anyone to be part of any institution or organization. But for the Church, dissension and division are especially egregious because they manifest a failure in relationship with and love for God. They manifest a failure in charity.

However, the unity of the Church is more than just an evangelistic or missionary tool. As former Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, has written, "[The unity of the Church] is in principle the consummation to which all history moves. The purpose of God in creation was and is to fashion a fellowship of free spirits knit together by a love in all its members which answers to the manifested love of God—or as St. Paul expresses it, to ‘sum up all things in Christ.’…it is the one worthy end of all human aspiration; it is the life of heaven."

This future and final destiny of the Church—the summing up of all people and all things in Christ—is the subject of Jesus’ prayer in the second part of today’s gospel: "Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world."

This future and final destiny of the Church is also present in the reading from Revelation. The ascended Christ speaks of his return as judge and Lord: "See, I am coming, soon," and the reading ends with what is thought to be an early Christian prayer from the eucharistic liturgy: "Come, Lord Jesus." The Greek word is maranatha, and it is the transliterated form of an Aramaic expression. It occurs also in 1 Corinthians 16 as a prayer which closes that epistle.

As we approach the end of the Easter season, it is somehow fitting that we should be reminded of this future and final consummation of all things in Christ which is the purpose and meaning of his death, resurrection, and ascension—the events which we have been remembering and commemorating since Maundy Thursday. Today, it is as if we are being reminded by Christ, "In leaving you, I have not left you alone or on your own. I am now with the Father praying for you and preparing a place for you. And where I am, I wish for you to be also."

We tend to give this future consummation short shrift—in part, I think, because it is beyond our imagining, something which is difficult for us to envision and grasp; we give it short shrift also, in part, because we are practical people who want to know only what is immediately relevant. What difference does it make that Christ will come again?

Yet, this hope for future consummation is a regular part of our eucharistic liturgy. It is the mystery—the incomprehensible except through faith, through trust; "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again." "We remember his death. We proclaim his resurrection. We await his coming in glory." It is part of the Creed which we recite every Sunday; and the second petition in the Lord’s Prayer: "thy kingdom come."

Keeping in mind this future hope and destiny is important because it reminds us of where we are headed, and where those who have gone before us now are: they are with Christ in a communion and fellowship of unity and perfect love.

When we celebrate the Eucharist, we are lifting our hearts to heaven—to the ascended Christ: "Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord." We are stretching ourselves to be transported to that heavenly kingdom; and with the ascended Christ in that kingdom are all who have gone before us—prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs, loved ones who have died in the peace of Christ.

The Eucharist is the place where we, on a weekly basis, come home to God, taste the life of heaven, lift our hearts to the King of Heaven; and we are in communion with our loved ones who have died, all the prophets, martyrs, saints, angels and archangels—all the company of heaven.

The Eucharist has been called the sacrament of unity not only because it is the means of our communion with Christ and the Father, but also because it is the means of our unity with the Church in heaven. Nowhere are we closer to the Church Triumphant, to the saints and all who have died in the peace of Christ, than when we come to the table of our Lord’s Body and Blood.

The Rev’d Pamela Snare is the Curate of Christ Church, Covington