An offering for Ascension

Good morning,

Today is Ascension Day for Christians when, after the crucifixion, Jesus finally ascends to bring all life-experience into God. We see him taken into a cloud and then seated on top of a sacred mountain with angels singing ‘holy, holy, holy.’

It’s a boundless mystery to me. Every year, I find it intriguing.

Recently I interviewed Chris Bonnington about his ascent to the Southwest face of Everest in 1985. He had led groundbreaking expeditions before but never got to the top himself. ‘What was the top like?’ I asked and he said that the view was less impactful than the feeling of the highest point of the world. ‘It was a type of love,’ he said tapping his chest. ‘More than light itself.’

Later he talked about the invasion of new technology. The 1980’s Tenzing-Hillary airport changed the length of walk to the area and in the 1990’s helicopters became capable of transporting food or people to base camp or even further up. He was not only concerned about the integrity of the same climb across history but, in that vast whiteness, there was a strong etiquette amongst the climbers of not interfering with the majestic silence. ‘You had to respect it’ he said. His sherpa Pertemba from Nepal, with whom he shared a tent, made offerings as they went up. He believed that the mountain could feel every soul and every move within it and Chris said that to him, in the long days of navigating crevice, ice and storms, ‘this approach to the sacred mountain made more sense.’

Holy God, may I make offerings as I walk with you and respect your majestic silence.

Amen.