Ascending with Alleluias!

Every Ascension Day for the last couple of decades students and staff from York St John and York University have ascended the Minster tower in the early morning for a service. Up until two years ago we would climb the tower first of all and then begin the service: now though, we gather at ground floor level, 90 metres below for the first chunk of the liturgy. After we've prayed the collect for Ascension Day -- 'just as you ascended -- so may we ascend' we wind our way up the two hundred and seventy-odd steps. This year to develop the liturgical action of ascending, I thought we'd try singing a chant-like alleluia as we set off up to the top. I hadn't allowed for the difficulty there is in singing whilst climbing so high! I was gasping. Fortunately about half-way up we came out from the first spiral staircase onto a gangway which runs along the top of a section of wall at the base of the south transept roof, in the direction of the central tower and second internal stairway. So while the singing continued, we all filed on to this mid-air walkway, until there were fifty of us, 140 feet above the street, singing out across the flying buttresses towards St Michael-le-Belfrey and the West End. We climbed the second part silently and gave ourselves 10 minutes at the top to gaze at the view and get our breath back before listening to the readings, hearing the sermon from David Cantrell and singing 'let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!'.

One memorable moment from David's address was when he wondered if our common perception of Ascenion serves us "a bit like a supermarket BOGOF offer (buy one, get one free) -- i.e. have a life, passion, death and resurrection and get an ascension thrown into the bargain"! David suggested that Luke-Acts and Revelation speak strongly of transformation of death which is one both of resurrection and ascension -- a working pair: the former which speaks to our need for the transformation and rescue of our past, and the latter to all our hope for the now, and all lies ahead of us.

We had breakfast together back at York St John.