Happy Ascension Day!

This weekend we are celebrating the ascension of our Lord which, according to Acts 1:3, happened forty days after Easter. Perhaps because the day always falls on a Thursday, or because it may seem anticlimactic after Easter, Ascension Day is often overlooked. Chances are that you did not receive any Ascension Day cards, or had many people wish you a blessed Ascension Day as would happen with Christmas or Easter. Yet it is mentioned in our Creeds as an important event in our Lord’s life, and, therefore, is important for us.

The reason for bringing this up is not to make anyone feel guilty for not making a big deal about Ascension Day or even realizing it was Ascension Day on Thursday, May 29. Rather, it is to serve as a wondrous reminder that, first, our Lord completed His work for our salvation that He came to this earth to accomplish. Nothing was left undone. Second, while we may at times forget Him, He doesn’t forget us but, as we’ll hear in our reading from Ephesians 1, is head of His Church and is ruling all things for our good. In other words, He is still actively involved and would be so in our personal lives.

Have you ever heard someone say something like, “I’d forget my own head if it wasn’t attached to me”? We have a wondrous Savior who, through His Spirit, is attached to us and would go with us in this life, always acting for our good. What a wondrous Savior who ascended to heaven not to get away from us, but to assume His rightful place where He continues to watch over us, come to us in a wondrous way physically present in Holy Communion, and love us with an everlasting love. Happy Ascension Day!