Ascension of our Lord

Tuesday after Easter 6

May 15, 2012

The Lord be with you

The Ascension of our Lord is always forty days after Easter, and therefore always on a Thursday. This year, the Ascension of our Lord falls on May 17.

Ascension Day is the coronation celebration of our Lord as He is proclaimed to be King of the universe. Jesus’ ascension to the Father is His entrance to the greater existence beyond the confines of time and space, being no longer bound by the limitations of His state of humiliation. Jesus now sits at the right hand of God, which Luther correctly taught is everywhere, having again taken up the power and authority that were His since before time. Yet our Lord is present with us who remain bound by time and space. He is with us as true God and true man, exercising His rulership in the Church through the means of grace which He established: His Word and His Sacraments. We mortals in those means of grace can grasp the King of the universe and receive a foretaste of the feast to come.

Many churches offer Ascension Day services. At Lamb of God, we join with other area Lutherans in a joint service to mark this special day. Those other churches are The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Greenville and Abiding Savior Lutheran Church in Anderson. As Good Shepherd is the most centrally located of the three churches, these joint services are held there. The service begins at 7:00 pm. Good Shepherd is located at 1601 North Pleasantburg Drive.

Prayer of the Day:

Almighty God, as Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, ascended into the heavens, so may we also ascend in heart and mind and continually dwell there with Him, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor John Rickert