We are here to help people love and worship God. We aim to be, and encourage others to become, committed and active disciples of Jesus,
who love God and worship him, who know the power of the Holy Spirit and who show God’s love in every part of their lives.
Risen Christ,
you have raised our human nature to the throne of heaven:
help us to seek and serve you,
that we may join you at the Father’s side,
where you reign with the Spirit in glory,
now and for ever. Amen.
(The alternative Collect for Ascension Day)
A few years ago the Church of England published a set of alternative collects for every Sunday and major festival of the Church year. A collect is a prayer that brings together the themes of the day. These alternative prayers are usually simpler and briefer than the ‘official collects’ and I feel that they often get to the heart of the celebration because of this.
This year the Ascension falls on Thursday 29th May and is, as always, part of the Easter Season. This prayer reminds us that Jesus did not rise from the grave as a ghost or a spirit; He was raised physically, embodied. However, His risen nature was changed - He was unrecognised by close friends until He wanted to be known; He could be present in a locked room and yet still could be held and on two occasions, even eat a meal with the disciples.
Ascension Day celebrates Christ returning to the Father; we might say returns ‘up’ to heaven, or into the heart of Reality.
The Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles tell us that this risen Christ ‘ascended’ into the presence of the Father, again not as a Spirit, but bodily. And it is this that helps us to understand the meaning and importance of the Ascension.
The body of Christ that ascended into heaven carried the wounds, the scars that tell of Jesus’ love and of the cost of loving. There is pain and suffering and even victimhood at the heart of God. This is the meaning and the mystery of the Ascension.
When we pray, the One who hears our prayers knows what it is to love; knows what it is to suffer and to weep. The one who hears our prayers and receives our worship is a God of compassion; God knows and understands our life, knows and understands us. And so we can approach God with hope and with confidence.
May Christ risen and ascended Christ bless us with the joy of His presence this Eastertide and always. Amen.
St Mary's Church, Priory Road, Ecclesfield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S35 9XZ, United Kingdom
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