The Vicar writes

They worshipped Him with great joy ..

The response of the disciples to the Ascension of Jesus into heaven was to worship Him with great joy. They were continually to be found in the temple, praising God and waiting for the gift that had been promised: the Holy Spirit.

Christian worship should be marked with 'joy' - with joy because worship is both recognition of who God is and a response to what He has done for us.

The disciples were enabled to worship with joy because of their overwhelming confidence in Jesus. They knew that He had risen from the dead, they knew that even though they would no longer see Him, that He would always be with them strengthening and encouraging them for the work that was prepared for them.

This 'joy' became one of the hallmarks of the early church as even in times of need and persecution they recalled that Jesus was alive and that they were, because of their confidence in Him, 'inheritors of the kingdom of God'. That is to say that although it might appear when difficult times comes that 'evil' has a great deal of power that they knew that actually the power of evil had been destroyed through the death of Jesus, seen through his resurrection from the dead. So they knew, as Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, that absolutely nothing could separate them from the love of God - not even death itself.

Joy became a hallmark of the early church and it is often today, seemingly ironically, the hallmark of the persecuted church. I will never forget hearing the story of a group of North Koreans Christians who were about to be executed in a particularly horrible way singing praises to the Lord as death came towards them.

How sad it is then that today few associate the words 'joy' and 'church'. So often, Christians can allow the pressures and tensions of each day to rob them of the joy of Jesus. So often, the stresses of each day override the peace of God.

I hope then that the celebration of Ascension Day on May 1st. will be a joyful occasion. As we have opportunity to recall that Jesus, risen from the dead, has said that He will always be with us, that He will never leave us and that He has given us a teacher and a strengthener in the Holy Spirit.

We also have the opportunity to welcome the new priest-in-charge, Giles Kendall, to the Ascension and to celebrate, along with partners from St. Mary's, being the Church of the Ascension.

The joy begins at 7.30 pm.


Revd. David Hoskin (Vicar in theTeam)