“…as he blessed them, he left them and was taken up to heaven.” Luke 24:51

Dear Friends:

Thank goodness Jesus blesses us before he’s sucked up into heaven. In the last three verses of Luke’s gospel, this is what we get. Jesus, alive, resurrected from the dead, taken up to heaven. The image is not very hope filled, much less very believable. But, back up a bit. Before Jesus ascends, he “opened their minds to understand the scriptures”. He calls for us to have a change of heart. He commands that we go about preaching the good news of the forgiveness of sins. Here we are thrust into the depths of the Easter season trying our best to celebrate and give thanks for Jesus, resurrected from the dead. That’s hard enough to grasp and now, phhhhhittt…up he goes, ascended to heaven. Mark’s gospel adds the Ascension only as an afterthought, perhaps thinking the gospel needed more emphasis on Jesus’ resurrection appearances and his eventual ascent. Luke’s writer continues with the story in Acts of the Apostles. Chapter one, Jesus teaches and prepares his disciples, now to be apostles, to go out, baptized with the power of the Holy Spirit, to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. With that, Jesus is lifted up into a cloud and he is removed from their sight. No wonder the apostles went into hiding. The whole Ascension is just too much to grasp.

But, here we are. Those, sent out as Jesus People to be about making God’s world known. Tomorrow in the life of the Church we celebrate Jesus’ Ascension. In the Episcopal Church, we observe seven “principal feasts”: Easter, a moveable feast falling on the first Sunday after the full moon that falls on or after March 21; Ascension Day which falls forty days (Acts 1:3) after Easter, The Day of Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, All Saints Day, Christmas Day and the Feast of the Epiphany (The Book of Common Prayerp. 15). These principal feasts are recognized by the church as high holy days of observance. But, because Ascension day falls on a Thursday, sadly, it too often does not get the attention it deserves in learning the life of Jesus.

It is in the act of the Ascension that we are given the signal to carry on in the name of Jesus Christ. Throughout the forty days of Easter Jesus appears to his followers instructing them, and us, of our role as the mouthpiece, the hands, and the feet of Jesus in the world.Jesus promises us the gift of the Holy Spirit, which we receive in our baptism and which births us as the church at the Feast of Pentecost, just days following the Ascension. Not a week goes by that we aren’t reminded of the real presence of Christ with us in the breaking of the bread and in the cup. We know we’re not alone when we say our prayers as we’re reminded that Jesus promises, that when two or three are gathered, he will be in the midst of us. Jesus has ascended. But, Jesus is still with us, as he promises when he says, “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6). At the same time, the truth is, Jesus is absent. He’s not here. We still await his return. So, as he ascends to be where he’s called to be, we’re called to live in the tension that in Christ, with Christ, and through Christ, God’s world is made known, through our good works as the church.

Tomorrow, the Feast of Ascension, pray the following prayer:Almighty God, whose blessed Son our Savior Jesus Christ ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things: Mercifully give us faith to perceive that, according to his promise, he abides with his Church on earth, even to the end of the ages; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.(The Book of Common Prayerpage 226).

May your Ascension Day fill you with all hope and promise that Jesus has for each of us. Happy Ascension Day!

Tomorrow night, come gather for Interfaith Dialogue and Pot Luck dinner from 7:30-9:30 p.m. See you on Sunday for Family Worship at 10:00 a.m. We’ll be honoring our Sunday School teachers and feasting on holy donuts, and hot dogs from Friendship Café. Sunday afternoon, at 5:30 p.m. gather for the sacred sounds of Celtic Worship. June 9 is our final Sunday School. Weekly Amy and Claire continue in the nursery caring for the newborns through age three. Summer Chapel for kids begins June 23rd after June 16th Father’s Day. Summer is upon us and we’re here, not going anywhere! There’s work to do as the church!

Many blessings,

Hillary