20/05/2026
Tomorrow we celebrate Ascension Day, according to the Ethiopian Calendar.
There'll be a 10.00am service, to which all are welcome.
Here's a lovely observation by a previous Lutheran Pastor in Jerusalem,
"I love the idea that the last bit of Jesus the disciples saw,
before the Spirit arrived,
and before the birth of the Church,
was:
Dust from the roads of Galilee,
Dirt from consorting with sinners,
Callouses from standing with the oppressed,
Blisters from walking in the shoes of the poor,
And the holes:
Holes from the nails which held him on the cross,
Holes from which poured the blood of our salvation.
It seems very fitting to me that the last the disciples saw of the Risen Christ was his dirty, painful, beautiful feet.
I wonder: What if we thought of Ascension not as a feast of emptiness, or a feast of farewell, but as the Feast of Both Feet?
What if we thought of Ascension as the day Jesus’ feet were lifted high above our heads, not because they were being taken from us, but so we could see them clearly?
If we think of the Ascension in this way, then this is the Feast of seeing clearly where Jesus wants his disciples to walk.
This is the Feast of seeing clearly where Jesus wants the church to stand.
This is the Feast of seeing clearly how the church will suffer for doing what is right.
This is the Feast of seeing clearly, once again, just how much Jesus loved us.
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, for these next ten days, as we await the coming of the Spirit on Pentecost and the beginning of the church’s ministry, know that we have also not been left empty-handed. We have received the precious gift of time! We have this time in-between to contemplate Our Lord’s feet—where they stood, with whom they walked, and what they suffered, for the sake of this broken world. Let us take full advantage of this gift, committing ourselves to prayer, to singing, to worship, and to joy, as the first disciples did.
And on Pentecost,
when the promised Holy Spirit fills our churches once again,
when we are sent to share the Good News with all nations, beginning in Jerusalem,
I pray that we will be ready:
Ready to jump in, with both feet." (Carrie Ballinger)
