Ascension Day is the day when Christians remember a very significant movement our relationship with Jesus. Jesus has appeared to his followers a number of times over the previous few weeks, in Jerusalem, and in Galilee. He has shown them that he is really alive, despite being killed on a cross. And he has helped them understand this astounding turnabout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Jesus is not going to keep appearing to his followers like this. Matthew shows us Jesus meeting with the disciples in this way for the last time. And in his gospel, Luke tells how Jesus blessed the disciples, he left them and was taken up into heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are some churches which show this in a stained glass window – Jesus leaving the earth – sometimes taking off like a rocket – sometimes all you can see is his feet. But I think the language of going up into heaven is picture language, to try to express a shift in the relationship between Jesus and his followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the past three or so years they spent almost all their time together – walking alongside each other, eating together, sleeping under the same roof. When Jesus appears to the disciples after Easter he shows them that he is really there with them – he shares food and conversation with them – but he only appears for a short time, in quite a mysterious way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now Jesus takes his leave, and calls his followers to continue his work. But he also says, \u2018I will be with you always\u2019. How can this be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One answer is given by the Book of Acts, Luke\u2019s sequel to his gospel. Some days after this last parting, the disciples are gathered in Jerusalem and they have an amazing experience – they are filled with \u2018the Holy Spirit\u2019 – the breath of God – the Spirit of Jesus. This transforms them, and they stop hiding away behind locked doors and go out onto the streets to tell everyone about Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what about us? If those words \u2018I will be with you always\u2019 are for us too, how can we experience this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe instead of thinking of the Ascension as the movement of Jesus up – into heaven – followed by the movement down of the Holy Spirit, we could see it as the movement from Jesus being out there, alongside people, to Jesus being \u2018in here\u2019 – within us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thought for the Day on Thursday Lucy Winkett talked about this movement from flesh, to spirit – the \u2018unseen presence of the spirit who comes to empower human beings to change the world themselves, even after Christ has gone.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said this: \u2018It is possible for human beings to be able to connect with God in the core of ourselves, often helped by silence, by resting our souls in the communion with God that doesn\u2019t depend on words.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes people find that connection through silence, sometimes through entering into the bible stories with their imagination, sometimes through action – feeling Jesus near as they partner with him, sometimes through music, or through a service like this. We don\u2019t always feel that connection, but Jesus invites us to trust his word, \u2018I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You might like to spend some quiet time now\u2026
resting your soul in the communion with God that doesn\u2019t depend on words
allowing God\u2019s breath to breathe in you
being open to the presence of Jesus deep within you
\u2026\u2026
Lord Jesus, you promise to be with us always,
may we become more and more aware of your presence in our lives,
may your spirit be our guide, our strength and our companion,
and may we be drawn into the movement of your love,
flowing from deep within us, and out into the world.
<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ascension Day is the day when Christians remember a very significant movement our relationship with Jesus. Jesus has appeared to his followers a number of times over the previous few […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":519,"featured_media":778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reflections"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/519"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1715,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1714\/revisions\/1715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}