Glory to our ascended Lord, that he is with us always.
Glory to the Word of God, going forth with his armies, conquering and to conquer.
Glory to him who has led captivity captive, and given gifts for the perfecting of his saints.
Glory to him who has gone before to prepare a place in his Father’s home for us.
Glory to the author and finisher of our faith; that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion now and for evermore.
I’ve been thinking a lot today about why Christendom does not take Ascension Day more seriously. I earnestly believe that something precious is lost when we transfer it to Sunday, as even the RCs do (at least here in the West). Ascension Day contains the very bracing truth that when we say “He is Risen”, we actually believe that, or are called to. Our Risen Lord is alive today, in all of His resurrected glory. The veil of heaven is drawn so that we cannot see Him face to face, but He is alive today, every bit as much as at Easter. And even in the Church, I’m not always sure we act like that is the case. We rightly speak about seeing Him the faces of those around us, we rightly remember Him in engagement with the scriptures, we rightly encounter Him in the Eucharist, but these things sometimes cloud the fact that He is actually alive today, and that we will see Him face to face, and touch Him just as Thomas did. The Ascension is just as significant as Christmas, for just as the Word became flesh in the Incarnation, God took the flesh of our Lord into himself at the Ascension, so that we may always have relationship with Him, so that He may rule over His new creation. Do we not act like this is true? I know we are still tired after Easter. I know we are preparing for special celebrations at Pentecost, but do we not dance with joy now, do we not feast now? Am I reading too much into this? Am I expecting too much? Is my theological thinking muddled? Because I just don’t understand why the Body of Christ is so sanguine this day.