HAPPY ASCENSION DAY!

                                                           HAPPY ASCENSION DAY!       

            You will not find a "Happy Ascension Day" card where you buy all your other Greeting Cards.   In fact, most people don't even know that there is a special day called "Ascension Day."   In fact, many Church people won't even know there's a special holy day called "Ascension Day."   And most Churches do not actually celebrate "Ascension Day!"   So, what, in the world is "Ascension Day"?

            Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday.  We all know that.  We celebrate that!  In fact, even our world celebrates Easter!  And for Forty Days, Jesus physically appeared to many of His disciples assuring them that He had indeed risen from the dead, and is still alive, and have completed the work of saving us.   We have quite a few examples of Jesus appearing to His disciples recorded in the Bible.  There were probably many more that aren't recorded in the Bible.

            But then on the 40th day, Jesus gathered His few disciples together with Him on the Mount of Olives, and as He was once again teaching and talking to them, He simply began to rise from the earth, and ascended into Heaven, until a cloud hid Him from their view.   On that day, Jesus ended His earthly public ministry, and took His bodily physical presence away from the earth.  Of course because He is God, even though He is on His throne in Heaven, He is also "with each one of us, every step of our life," as He also promised.

             This year, this Thursday, May 18, is Ascension Day, the Day Jesus ascended into Heaven.   We will not have a special service on Thursday, to celebrate this day.   We will celebrate Jesus' ascension the next Sunday, simply because it is more convenient for our modern world.   But the one thing that we celebrate is the day when faith in Jesus went from "seeing," as the disciples were able to actually see Jesus, hear Jesus, and touch Jesus, into simply "believing" as Jesus touches our hearts and causes us to believe in Him, even though we haven't seen Him.   

            Come and join us this Sunday, as we celebrate Ascension Day, and wish each and everyone of you, a "Happy Ascension Day!"  Even without a Greeting Card!