Miniature from Rabbula Gospels (Mesopotamia, 6th century)
READINGS:
AM Psalm 8, 47; PM Psalm 24, 96
Dan. 7:9-14; Heb. 2:5-18; Matt. 28:16-20
COLLECT:
Almighty God, whose blessed Son our Savior Jesus Christ ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things: Mercifully give us faith to perceive that, according to his promise, he abides with his Church on earth, even to the end of the ages; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
MadPriest at Of Course, I Could Be Wrong has posted a sermon which he titles "Liberationist Sermon for Ascension Day, May Day and International Workers' Day". That covers all the bases, don't you think? Here are a few excerpts, but please click the link and read the whole sermon.
I love the Church Calendar. The high days and holy days, and especially the seasons of the Church year. They make me feel comfortable and part of something very ancient and which will continue, hopefully, long after I’m gone. Every year the liturgy, attached, as it is, to the calendar of the Church, leads me on a journey which is paradoxically, both, always the same and, if you are open to the Spirit of God, always full of novelty and new experiences.
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The first season of the church year to evolve was Easter. The feast days of Easter Sunday, Ascension Day and Pentecost have been celebrated for over 1700 years - we don’t know exactly how long because we don’t have the records to give us exact dates. It seems almost certain that the season of Easter ran from Easter Day to Pentecost before 300 A. D. And that is the period of time we keep to today.
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On Ascension Day, the Church, however you wish to define it, is handed over to us. It is the parting gift of Jesus. With the Church comes adult responsibility but, on the Day of Pentecost we will discover how God will help us take on that responsibility. Easter is not yet over. Hang on in there just a little while longer.
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There is another theme in today’s commemoration that I would like to draw your attention to as I finish this sermon, as it is a very important them for us. This year, Ascension Day has fallen on the 1st. of May. That’s purely coincidental but it’s also very useful for our education. It is May Day, an ancient festival on which we look forward to the Summer and hope for clement weather that will bring us a bounteous harvest.
If today wasn’t Ascension Day, in the Roman Catholic Church they would be celebrating the feast of Joseph the Worker and it is, most definitely, the International Day of the Worker on which the working people of the world celebrate the fact that they are people of value and when they hope for fairer wages and for precious time to be returned to them to be enjoyed with their families, friends and, in some cases, with their god.
We Christians should celebrate these festivals as well. We should celebrate May Day and pray for a bounteous harvest, especially at this time when how much we’ve messed up our environment is becoming increasingly apparent. We should celebrate with the working people and share their hopes and burdens because Jesus tells us to. But, as Christians, we also have our own hopes, and on this day when we commemorate Christ ascending to his Father, our hope, our great and certain hope, is that he will return to his people to gather in the harvest at the end of days. And our hope, as always, is that he will come soon.
Image from Wiki.
May you be uplifted this Ascension Day!
ReplyDeleteAnd you also, Lindy. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI hope that MP doesn't mind how I chopped his sermon. Anyway, most, but not all, of my readers read his blog, too. I thought it was lovely the way he included the workers and the environment in the celebration of the Ascension.
A good series of thoughts by MP. Thank you for offering a precis on your blog, Grandmere.
ReplyDeleteIn the absence of any Anglican/Episcopal celebration today (I've been trying to introduce, yes introduce it for years but can get no response) I went to my daughter's school Ascension Day mass at the local RC church. Packed with children, teachers and a few parishioners, it was very uplifting. A good homily about Ascension giving us the gifts of faith, hope and love to put to use after Jesus is physically no longer with us.
Amen amen amen!!
ReplyDeleteI loved the Mad One's sermon - it was really good.
RR, we don't celebrate the feast in my church, either, but I think that it would be a good thing.
ReplyDeleteFran, amen, again.
I'll be there aren't five "Episcopalians" in my whole diocese who know what today is. It's sad.
ReplyDeleteI liked what I read somewhere about this time between Ascension and Pentecost being a time of impotence, of waiting. Maybe I read that at Telling Secrets... don't remember but I liked that.
Lindy, wherever you read it, I read it, too, but I don't remember where, either. In my RC school the Ascension was a school holiday, and we were required to attend mass.
ReplyDeleteToday is also,by coincidence of calendars, Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day). Usually it comes closer to Easter, but since this is on the Jewish calendar a leap year, the usual dates fall later than usual relative to the Gregorian calendar.
ReplyDeleteKishnevi, MadPriest didn't quite cover all the bases, then. It's a sad and solemn day, but we must never forget.
ReplyDeleteWe read it in a comment that Ann made over at OCICBW. That Ann... she's a smart one. She said where she'd read it but I forgot where she said.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, Lindy! You're losing me.
ReplyDelete