{"id":4592,"date":"2026-02-09T18:55:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T18:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/?page_id=4592"},"modified":"2026-02-14T10:51:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T10:51:26","slug":"departure","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/mmac-paintings\/departure\/","title":{"rendered":"Departure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Artists and poets interpret,
\n<\/span><\/span>as best they can, strange
\n<\/span><\/span>stories found in Scripture<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

but necessarily struggle
\n<\/span><\/span>to make sense of old pre-
\n<\/span><\/span>scientific world views.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We now know there is no
\n<\/span><\/span>heaven ‘up there’ so maybe
\n<\/span><\/span>it’s not entirely accurate <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

to call Christ’s departure an
\n<\/span><\/span>Ascension; in which case,
\n<\/span><\/span>how <\/span>did<\/i><\/span> Jesus make his exit? <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

‘A cloud took him out of their
\n<\/i><\/span><\/span>sight’<\/i><\/span> is unproblematic, as
\n<\/span><\/span>many people have disappeared <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

in mountain mists; so although
\n<\/span><\/span>the Blakean shapes and colours
\n<\/span><\/span>in this painting are attractive, <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I’d prefer an image in which Jesus
\n<\/span><\/span>disappears into the mist, leaving
\n<\/span><\/span>his disciples standing there puzzled.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What is most striking is that they
\n<\/span><\/span>do not appear to have been left
\n<\/span><\/span>sad or bereft at his departure, <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

so they clearly took Jesus at his word
\n<\/span><\/span>when he promised he would return.
\n<\/span><\/span>They had enjoyed his risen company <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

for forty days, during which time
\n<\/span><\/span>he walked through locked doors,
\n<\/span><\/span>appeared and disappeared, so maybe <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

this departure wasn’t quite as
\n<\/span><\/span>astonishing as it might have been,
\n<\/span><\/span>which explains why they cheerfully <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

returned to Jerusalem without him,
\n<\/span><\/span>to spend their time in prayer, ready
\n<\/span><\/span>for the promised Day of Pentecost.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a9<\/span> Alwyn Marriage 2026<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artists and poets interpret, as best they can, strange stories found in Scripture but necessarily struggle to make sense of old pre- scientific world views. We now know there is no heaven ‘up there’ so maybe it’s not entirely accurate to call Christ’s departure an Ascension; in which case, how…<\/p>\n

Continue readingDeparture<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4538,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4592","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4592"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4654,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4592\/revisions\/4654"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}