The Collect
O GOD, the King of glory, who hast exalted thine only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph unto thy kingdom in heaven; We beseech thee, leave us not comfortless; but send to us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us unto the same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.
The Epistle (1 St. Peter iv. 7)
THE end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
The Gospel (St. John xv. 26, and part of Chap. xvi)
WHEN the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them.
Sunday after Ascension - Message in a Minute
The most important thing about the Ascension of Christ is that it is a preview and promise of our own ascensions. It is the end of the process through which we connect what happens in our own lives to what happened in the life of Jesus. We are baptized into his body. We are part of him. Because we are part of him, we know that what happened to him will happen to us in the same pattern. Birth, life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. All those things happened to him; all those things will happen to us. Of the connection between his ascension and ours, Jesus says quite clearly, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am there ye may be also." Again, it is all very straightforward., He went away so he could send the Holy Ghost to help us while we are alive. He is up in heaven getting our places ready. He is going to come back to earth to gather us up and take us there.
So we can look forward to heaven because Jesus ascended. And because we know we are going to go, there is a sense in which we are there already. One of the purposes of the liturgy of Holy Communion is to give us a foretaste and a preview of being in heaven. The angels and archangels sing "Holy, holy, holy" there all the time, so we sing along. The angels and archangels are in the presence of God all the time, and we enter his presence when he comes to us on the altar in his body and blood. We do all this in the company of our family and our church friends, and they are part of the group with whom we will spend eternity in God's presence. That is why this religion of ours is good news. And that is why at the center of our life together we remember "his blessed passion and precious death, his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension; rendering unto (God) most hearty thanks for the innnumerable benefits procured unto us by the same."
Christ has ascended, and so have we. Thanks be to God.
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