In the Anglican Church the season of Easter comes to an end as we celebrate Ascension Day, when Jesus is taken up to heaven.

For the disciples it is 6 weeks since Jesus died, they are still coping with the shock and bereavement and the sudden discovery that Jesus is alive again. They must have been in a great state of confusion as he comes and goes amongst them. They are looking back, trying to remember what Jesus had taught them in his 3 years of ministry, trying to piece together what his death and resurrection means.

The Ascension is the moment when they are called to stop looking back and begin to look forward. Jesus told them they will receive power and be his witnesses.

We can stand looking up to heaven or we can see God in everything on earth.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning said: ‘Earth's crammed with heaven’

Mother Teresa said: ‘you can hear God everywhere - in the closing of the door, in the person who needs you, in the birds that sing, in the flowers, in the animals.’

Ascension Day is a reminder to look both up and down. To trust that Christ's promise of eternal life is both up in heaven and also here in the ‘yet to come’ here on earth, where in the ordinary we get glimpses of God’s extraordinary kingdom.

‘See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland’ Isaiah 43:19

Prayer:

Ascended Lord,

May we plant our feet in possibility and let the roots of our souls dig deep into the soil of faith. When we feel like a season of growth is a distant memory and hopes of new blossom have faded, may the scent of your grace ignite our imaginations to what might be. Amen.

Angela Stewart, Lay Minister