The Easter season is full of what the Church calls "mystagogy" - explorations of the mysteries of the Church. Baptism is a major focal point during the Great Fifty Days between the Great Vigil of Easter and Pentecost. In the Episcopal Church, we tend to skip right over Ascension Day.
Ascension Day is the fortieth day after Easter (it falls on May 1 this year and there will be a 7:00 PM service here at CC) and on that day we celebrate Jesus taking his place "at the right hand of the Father." Jesus in his risen, but still fully human form, ascends to heaven to be with God. This reminds us that we, too, will rise to be with God one day.
Once Jesus has ascended, a new era begins for the people of God. Ten days later, as Jesus promised, he sends his Spirit to the disciples on Pentecost and the Church as we know it is born. Pentecost is a major Christian feast day, as important as Christmas and Easter. At Pentecost, we are empowered to live out our baptismal ministry to "go and make disciples of all the nations" (Matthew 20:18).
All of the feast days of the Christian church year remind us of the story of God's plan of salvation for us. Celebrating them as a parish family helps us to understand the very important place God has given human beings in transforming and re-creating the world to be as God intended it!
Faithfully,
Elizabeth
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1 comment:
Beautiful words that stir my own passion for being a mother and for sharing words of a man who said such wonderful things and did such amaxing things....
thank you
Elizabeth!
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