Some people are neat freaks. Everything has to be tidy and in order. They can’t cope with something being put away in a different place. Are you that kind of a person? No? Let me challenge you!

Think about the church festivals. Christmas is always on 25th December because it is set by the solar cycle. Easter, however, moves about because its date is set by the lunar cycle. This is mildly irritating for some and occasionally there has been an attempt to make the date of Easter the same each year. Supposing this were agreed. What would we do with the other crowd who want every festival to fall on a Sunday! To satisfy them we would have to have Christmas on the fourth Sunday in December and Easter on, say, the second Sunday of April. You will never satisfy everybody.

This has been a long winded way of asking you to spare a thought for Ascension Day. It is linked to Easter and so its date changes every year, and it always falls on a Thursday. Therefore it often passes us by unnoticed even though it is a Bank Holiday on the Continent. Does it matter? Yes.

After his resurrection Jesus met the disciples on a number of occasions, coming and going as he pleased. Forty days on it was time for him to go, and this time he wouldn’t be back for a very long time. It was time for the Ascension.

Ascension Day completes the journey’s circle. Having left heaven to come to us at Christmas, Jesus now returns home. The great news, however, is that he goes home in such a way as to reassure us that one day we, too, will be able to follow him. Ascension Day is the official opening of heaven’s gates. It is a time of triumph as we celebrate the kingship of Christ. Ascension Day is very much a glorious hallelujah kind of day.

Maybe this year, with all the gloom and uncertainty of a pandemic, we won’t mind missing Ascension Day. Maybe we’re not feeling very positive and we don’t have any hallelujahs in us. But we have to remember that we are not the first people to face such difficult times. Ascension Day has been celebrated for the last twenty centuries. The thoughts of such triumph after disaster, of heaven being open, of ‘our man’ sat at the right hand of the Father, of Jesus going ahead to prepare a place for us, and of Jesus promising that the Holy Spirit will come to us to empower us…all these thoughts have brought much needed light into many a dark hour. Ascension Day was last Thursday. If for some reason we missed it, let’s take heart from the fact that Ascension-tide goes on for ten days! Let’s celebrate!

Heavenly Father, at this ascension-tide we remember the disciples as they watched their Lord leave them for the glory of heaven. We recall the awesomeness of the occasion and pray that you may help us experience the same as we catch glimpses of your glory. We recall the disciples’ apprehension and we pray that you may understand our anxieties over what is happening now and what might happen next in our world. We recall the disciples’ joy as they returned home and we pray that you may fill us with that same assurance that you will come to us and provide us with all that we will need to care for our world and all its people. Amen. 

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen.

(Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil: for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.)