Ascension

So today is the Ascension, and I could sure do with some. Just lots of stuff going on at the moment and I’m not feeling at all on top of it. Weary and not looking like a break soon…all really good stuff that I love, but just too much of it.

Acts 1:6 So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ 7He replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ 9When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’

Somehow as if the call to “follow me” wasn’t enough, Jesus then takes off, leaving us to do the rest of the work…of course, it’s not quite that stark, and there’s as much a sense of empowerment in that as anything else...but I can see how the disciples might have felt a bit that way.