Dear Friends,

Have you ever noticed how some traditions fade away over time? For instance , there used to be Royal Oak Day which was celebrated on the 29th May to commemorate the restoration of the English monarchy. There was also the Rushbearing Festival which was an old English ecclesiastical festival in which rushes were collected and put on the floor of the parish church. Yes, over the years traditions have died out. This month, May, sees a church festival which, too, is sadly dying out. The Festival of the Ascension of Jesus.

In many countries of the world Ascension Day is a public holiday with shops, schools and banks being closed. Here there is no such national observance and, in fact, the numbers attending our Ascension Day service seem to dwindle every year.

Luke is the Gospel writer who puts great emphasis on this event. In fact, it is so important to Luke that he ends his Gospel with it and then goes on to open his second book – Acts – with a more vivid description of this important occasion in the life of Jesus and His disciples.

The Ascension was a watershed moment for the disciples when they fully realised for the first time the magnitude of who Jesus was.

To the disciples it was an ending. It was the moment when they had to come to terms with the fact that their days when their faith was in a flesh and blood person were at an end. But it was also a beginning; the beginning of a relationship that was beyond physical presence. It was the start of a relationship which could never be severed. The disciples knew that they had a master and a friend from whom nothing could separate them any more.

The Ascension gave the disciples the certainty that they had a friend not only on earth but in heaven and surely that applies to us too?

The disciples had enough experience to know that what Jesus said He would do, He would do. There was absolutely no doubt in their minds that Jesus would keep His word when he said he would send the Holy Spirit. This aspect of the Ascension and its implications worth thinking about is that it was and is a test of faith. The disciples had to have the faith that the Holy Spirit would not only come but give them the power, the energy and bravery they would need.

The disciples passed this test with flying colours. The question for us to think about is would we pass the test with the same credit? In a way the test for us is even greater because we have never had the privilege of walking beside Jesus in a physical sense but that should not deter us from having the same faith as the disciples if we believe in a risen, ascended Jesus.

As Paul says, “Nothing in life or death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” .

So on this Ascension Day let us recognise Jesus as our risen Lord and live lives in the faith of those early disciples and just as their faith changed the world, let our faith change our corner of the world too.

Yours in Christ