When I am at a fire meeting or on a fire scene . . . everyone is very careful about their language; . . . or if a harsh word should slip out, the person will immediately stop . . . and apologize to me . . . and go on in a more moderate way.  . . . They do this (I think) because they know that I’m a priest; . . . they know that I am a priest and that I represent God; . . . that I represent Jesus and His Church.  . . . The know that I am a priest, and they instinctively desire not to offend the Father or His Son by offending me.  . . . They desire this because in some way they sense (I think) . . . in some way they sense that the Lord God Almighty is their only and ultimate hope; . . . their only and ultimate hope for all things good in this life . . . and in the life everlasting.

    And the reason they sense this (I think) is because the ancient witness of the Church is that Jesus, Son of the Living God; . . . Jesus is not dead, even though He was crucified and laid in a tomb; . . . Jesus is not dead but is risen and has ascended to the Father, taking our humanity with Him . . . so that our place; . . . the natural home for every human being who does not offend God and bears the likeness of Jesus; . . . our place is with God and within the realms of God which we call Heaven.

    This is the ancient witness of the Church, and so, . . . I am a witness to this truth wherever I am, . . . and so are you!  Indeed, Jesus has commanded it!  Jesus commanded it at the moment of His Ascension and at the beginning of our everlasting hope:

“you shall be my witnesses,” Jesus said; “you shall be my witnesses . . . to the end of the earth [and especially in Otsego County in Upstate New York].”

    In recent days, I have made a number of references to the abandonment of this Communion by one Daniel Herzog to become a Roman Catholic lay person.  I was asked about this at a Vestry meeting on Tuesday, and I said that the Leadership of the Episcopal Church has taken a sharp turn to the Left; . . . that Jesus is treated by the Leadership of the Episcopal Church; . . . Jesus is treated more as an historical phenomenon than Saviour of the world; . . . that a works righteousness is being preached; . . . and the opinions of science are held in higher regard than the Wisdom of Holy Scripture.  . . . The Leadership of the Episcopal Church has taken a sharp turn to the Left, and, just as happened to Mary Magdalene and the two disciples from Emmaus, the Leadership of the Episcopal Church would not listen to the witness of Daniel Herzog and David Bena that Christ is Risen . . . and is humanity’s ultimate hope.  . . . And Daniel and David have lost heart; . . . they have lost heart and abandoned our Communion.

    But the glory of this Festival, you see; the glory of this Festival of The Ascension is that we not lose heart!  For Christ is Risen and Ascended into Heaven to sit at the Right Hand of God the Father Almighty, . . . and in the fullness of Time Jesus will sort it all out and correct those who are mistaken, and He will bring into everlasting felicity all those firemen and everyone else who at least sense . . . and all of you who believe that in Christ . . . the Lord God Almighty is our only and ultimate hope.  . . . In the meanwhile, . . . do not lose heart; . . . even if no one will believe you, do not lose heart; . . . but, instead,

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.  . . . You [are] my witnesses,” Jesus says.

You are witnesses to Jesus Who is the Living Incarnate Word of God; Who is above every name that is named because it is He Who fills all in all.  Alleluia!