God has gone up with a shout! The Lord with the sound of the Ram's Horn, Hallelujah!
Wednesday, May 12, 2021, 5:24 pm just off 7H, Davis Point in the background: Progreso 326x55 leaving port for Progreso, Mexico with containers, meeting Western Miami 590x98 having unloaded lumber at East Terminal and now moving to West Terminal to load wood pellets for Rotterdam.
Most grateful for having been put back on distribution for the Vessel Schedule.
On the church calendar the sixth Thursday after Easter Day is always Ascension Day, IDK, maybe still a holiday in some European countries, Himmelfahrt in Germany, the risen Christ soaring toward heaven. The art selection for today is as varied as it is amazing,
The fair-haired woman in blue, foreground right, is Jesus' mother, the BVM. I did not go deep to identify the haloed saint whom the artist dressed in the material left over from Mary's robe, but guessing it's meant to be Simon Peter.
Most, many. but not all depictions of the Ascension have Mary there, the One in blue,
watching, gazing up at what theologians call "the disappearing feet," in astonishment and adoration.
But as I say, the variety of art on the subject is wonderful; I'm fond of this one, which just as well could be the Second Coming, as the Scripture (scroll down) quotes an angel saying He will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go into heaven; so the scenes could be indistinguishable, eh?
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Or here's another one that might be either Going or Coming but for the contemporary dress of the observers:
The faith acclamation: Christ has died, Christ is risen, (and ascended), Christ will come again.
Below are the Bible references, the passages we will be reading this coming Sunday morning.
Lesson: Acts 1:1-11
In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. "This," he said, "is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But 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." When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward 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."
Psalm 47
1 Clap your hands, all you peoples; *
shout to God with a cry of joy.
2 For the Lord Most High is to be feared; *
he is the great King over all the earth.
3 He subdues the peoples under us, *
and the nations under our feet.
4 He chooses our inheritance for us, *
the pride of Jacob whom he loves.
5 God has gone up with a shout, *
the Lord with the sound of the ram's-horn.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises; *
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7 For God is King of all the earth; *
sing praises with all your skill.
8 God reigns over the nations; *
God sits upon his holy throne.
9 The nobles of the peoples have gathered together *
with the people of the God of Abraham.
10 The rulers of the earth belong to God, *
and he is highly exalted.
Gospel: Luke 24:44-53
Jesus said to his disciples, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-- that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."
Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
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Today, centuries after the flat-earth era of belief, a skeptic such as my New Testament professor in seminary might draw the line at the image of Jesus ascending bodily beyond the clouds, and Progressive Christians might scoff at the notion of a literal Second Coming in the clouds with legions of angels; but Luke who wrote our texts for Sunday, both Acts and the Gospel, clearly means for us (Theophilus, God-lover) to take it so. What does it mean to you?
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+Time readers may have noticed I've been taking a break from the self-imposed discipline of daily thinking, writing and posting on the WebLog. Basically, after more than ten years of blogging faithfully, while keeping commitments to post sermon texts and for our Sunday School class, I'm on vacation, taking a sabbatical of however long I want to come to terms with self, and the obstacles of aging, and a wandering and wondering mind about, and faith in, the world and especially America as I'm struggling to recognize her, it, us.
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