“ . . . for Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension . . .”
Tomorrow, May 9 th , is the 40 th day after Easter and the day the Church remembers Christ’s final earthly appearance. It is also the “red-headed step-child” of the Christian calendar, as it is a very important feast day that most people forget about unless they go to “The Church of the Ascension." Indeed, Jesus’ ascension is the final act in the drama of his life and death. As we heard in the Gospel lesson on Sunday, Jesus told his disciples he had to leave in order for the Spirit to come. But the leaving he was talking about was not his death, but his ascension into heaven, so that he could be everywhere at once and not confined by a physical body. I must confess to some heretical thoughts about the Ascension, which is usually depicted in dramatic flowing robes, beams of light washing over the form of Christ and the faithful looking up in awe and wonder. Artisans never seem to depict (though a couple cartoonists probably have) the next scene –a bunch of people s