Bishop Eric Menees
"So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord,
will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is
not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own
authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to
the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were
looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” (Acts
1:6-9)
With this scripture from the Book of the Acts of the
Apostles (ACTS) we have the first hand account of Jesus’ ascension into heaven.
Let me ask you… When I say, “Hey what are you doing for the
Feast of the Ascension?” what comes to mind? I mean surely you are doing
something… right? Perhaps an Ascension
Cake… Angel food of course!
Ok, chances are that you aren’t celebrating the Ascension
today. Too often it is as if Ascension
is the forgotten feast in the church. However, if we forget about the Ascension
of Jesus then we miss one of the most important parts of Jesus’ ministry and
his work would be incomplete.
Like the other feasts of the church, the Ascension is based
on a real event from which we draw theological understand that fuels and
fortifies our faith.
From that moment to this day Jesus sits upon his throne –
making intercession to the Father. The
ascended Jesus sits next to His Father constantly speaking to the Father –
sharing his love for you with the very essence of Love – God! The Ascension
isn’t about the Son of God going into heaven, abandoning his people – it was
about moving to a place of honor and authority to intercede for you and for
me. Every prayer – our deepest hopes and
aspirations – are placed before the Father by the Son who loves and cares for
us more than we could ask or imagine.
There is another side to the Ascension that leaves us a
little more unsettled. Jesus sits
enthroned upon the Judgment Seat – from this seat Jesus will judge the living
and the dead at the end of time. The
question is…how shall we live between the Ascension and the Great
Judgment?
If by the end of reading this Bishop’s Note you ask how
shall I mark the Feast of the Ascension? I hope you’ll do so with prayer and
corporate worship this Sunday!
Let us pray: “Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that
like as we do believe thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have
ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and
with him continually dwell, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy
Ghost, one God, world without end.” Amen.
Happy Ascension Day!
Thirty-nine
Articles of Religion
XXX. Of Both Kinds
The Cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the Lay-people:
for both the parts of the Lord's Sacrament, by Christ's ordinance and
commandment, ought to be ministered to all Christian men alike.
No comments:
Post a Comment