...We cannot be in heaven, as he is on earth, by divinity, but in him, we can be there by love.

-St. Augustine
Sermon for the Lord's Ascension

The hour of this glorification has not yet struck for us. But while awaiting our eternal union with the choir of the blessed, we should in mind and holy desires dwell in that heaven where Christ, our Head, lives and reigns for ever.

We are upon earth only as strangers and pilgrims seeking our country; as members of the city of saints and the household of God, we may, says St. Paul, already dwell in heaven by faith and hope. (Philippians 3:20)

-Columba Marmion OSB
Christ in His Mysteries

Christ's Ascension is therefore also our own, upon the glory of the Head rests the hope of the body. On this holy day, we have received not only the assurance of entering into possession of eternal glory, but we have already entered into the heights of heaven with Christ Jesus.

by Christopher Wordsworth

See the Conqueror mounts in triumph; see the King in royal state, riding on the clouds, his chariot, to his heavenly palace gate! Hark! The choirs of angel voices joyful alleluias sing, and the portals high are lifted to receive their heavenly King.

He who on the cross did suffer, he who from the grave arose, he has vanquished sin and Satan; he by death has spoiled his foes. While he lifts his hands in blessing, he is parted from his friends; while their eager eyes behold him, he upon the clouds ascends.

Thou hast raised our human nature on the clouds to God's right hand: there we sit in heavenly places, there with thee in glory stand, Jesus seigns, adored by angels; Man with God is on the throne; mighty Lord, in thine ascension, we by faith behold our own.

by Brian Tabb, Academic Dean, Bethlehem College & Seminary

It is impossible to overstate the importance of Good Friday, when Jesus died for our sins, and Easter Sunday, when he was raised from the dead — but Jesus' earthly ministry did not stop there.

After the resurrection, Jesus taught his disciples about God's kingdom for forty days (Acts 1:3) and then he was "taken up" to heaven (Acts 1:2, 11). The cross and empty tomb are at the very heart of the gospel message proclaimed by Jesus' followers throughout history (see 1 Corinthians 15:1–4). However, for many evangelical Christians and churches, Jesus' ascension is simply an afterthought to Easter and Good Friday.

Here I want to highlight six aspects of Jesus' ascension or exaltation, in hopes that this significant and climactic event in Jesus' life will no longer be an afterthought for you.

1. Jesus continues to work after the ascension.

In Acts 1:1–2 we read, "In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up..." The small but important word began signals that Jesus's ascension does not mark the cessation but the continuation of his work as Lord and Messiah. That's what Luke's second book is all about, the "Acts of the risen Lord Jesus," which he works from heaven, through his people, by the Holy Spirit, for the accomplishment of God's purposes.1

2. The ascended Lord Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to his people.

After his resurrection Jesus told his followers, "I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:49). 2 In his Pentecost sermon Peter explains, "Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing" (Acts 2:33). God promised in Joel 2:28, "I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh," and this promise is fulfilled by the exalted heavenly Lord Jesus. The ascended Lord sent the Spirit to be present with his people (John 14:16), to empower them for worldwide mission (Acts 1:8; 4:31), and to transform believers to live new lives reflecting their king (Romans 8:9–11; 2 Corinthians 3:18).

3. Jesus' ascension is his heavenly enthronement as King.

At Jesus' ascension he is installed as the true king of the world. According to the Apostles' Creed, he "ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty." Jesus is taken up to heaven in a cloud (Acts 1:9–11), and Stephen declares that he sees the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:56). These texts suggest that Jesus' ascension fulfills the important prophecy of Daniel 7:13–14:3

I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Jesus' kingdom cannot be destroyed and will not pass away! According to Revelation 3:21 Jesus conquered and sat down with his Father on his throne, where he receives unending praise (Revelation 5:6–13). Jesus will reign at God's right hand until all enemies are subdued under his feet (Psalm 110:1; Acts 2:34–35; 1 Corinthians 15:25; Hebrews 1:13). Thus God's kingdom has been inaugurated through the enthronement of Jesus, who now sits on heaven's throne and will return to consummate his kingdom on earth as in heaven.

4. Jesus' ascension is his return to his Father.

Before and after his death and resurrection Jesus declares that he was sent by his Father and must return to his Father:

I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father. (John 16:28; cf. 13:1, 3)

Jesus said to Mary, "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" (John 20:17)
There has been no sweeter reunion in the history of the world than Jesus' return to his Father! Perhaps the closest analogy is a courageous, wounded soldier returning to his loved ones after a hard-fought victory. Jesus fully accomplished his mission and glorified the Father on earth, and at Jesus' ascension the Father glorifies the Son in heaven (John 17:4–5). Take heart that Jesus' homecoming to his Father prepares the way for our homecoming to be with Jesus forever (John 14:2–4).

5. The ascended Lord Jesus is our heavenly mediator and high priest.

Jesus is the unique mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). His death and resurrection secure our forgiveness, justification, and reconciliation with God (Romans 4:25–5:1; 2 Corinthians 5:18–21). Note also that the exalted Lord Jesus is now in heaven interceding for his people as our true high priest and advocate (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 1:3; 7:25; 8:1; 1 John 2:1). During his earthly ministry Jesus' work was geographically limited — he didn't teach in Ethiopia while healing in China. But now he is at work everywhere and able to hear and respond to his people's prayers no matter the time or place. He sympathizes with our struggles and promises to do whatever we ask in his name (John 14:13–14; Hebrews 4:15–16).

6. The ascended Lord Jesus will return as King and Judge.

In Acts 1:11 two angels explain to the disciples, "This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." Jesus's heavenly reign will one day be fully realized on earth (Revelation 11:15; 19:10–16; 22:3). This is the very thing we ask for when we pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). At his return, the Lord Jesus will execute divine judgment, vindicating his downtrodden people and judging his enemies.4

What It Means for Our Lives

To sum up: Though often overlooked, the ascension completes Jesus' earthly mission and signifies his enthronement as heavenly king. Jesus has completed his Father's mission and he now rules with all authority and intercedes with all sympathy as our mediator and high priest. I close with four implications of Jesus' ascension for our lives.

Remember that Jesus is presently reigning as king and remains active and engaged in our world and our lives.

Therefore live boldly, confidently, and strategically as servants of the exalted king of heaven. Know that your labors in the Lord Jesus are not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Sufferers, take heart that Jesus is not indifferent to your struggle. He has endured great suffering and is thus the most merciful and sympathetic counselor and mediator. Take your cares to your ascended Lord who hears your prayers and can respond with all heaven's authority.

Finally hope in a glorious future. The ascended Lord will return as judge and king. He will abolish injustice, end suffering, and destroy death and set up his kingdom of truth, righteousness and love. Best of all, we will be with our king forever.

References:

1 See Alan J. Thompson, The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus: Luke's Account of God's Unfolding Plan (NSBT 27; Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2011), 48–50.

2 See also John 15:26; 16:7; Acts 1:5, 8.

3 See also Mark 14:62; Revelation 1:13; 11:15.

4 See Matthew 25:31–36; John 5:27; Acts 17:31; 2 Thessalonians 1:5–10; Revelation 22:12.

About The Author:

Brian Tabb serves as academic dean at Bethlehem College & Seminary, and an elder at Bethlehem Baptist Church.

by Dr. Rowan Williams, 104th Archbishop of Canterbury

The Feast of the Ascension is one of the most significant days in the Church's liturgical calendar. It celebrates Christ's return to the Father (John 16:28) forty days after his resurrection. It is narrated in Acts 1:1-11, Luke 24:50-end and Mark 16:19.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

One popular hymn for the Feast of the Ascension contains these lines:

Thou hast raised our human nature
in the clouds at God's right hand.

The ascension of Jesus in this context becomes a celebration of the extraordinary fact that our humanity in all its variety, in all its vulnerability, has been taken by Jesus into the heart of the divine life. 'Man with God is on the throne,' that hymn goes on. Quite a shocking line if you start thinking about it.

And that of course is first of all good news about humanity itself – the humanity that we all know to be stained, wounded, imprisoned in various ways; this humanity—yours and mine—is still capable of being embraced by God, shot through with God's glory, received and welcomed in the burning heart of reality itself:

to the throne of Godhead,
to the Father's breast,
as another hymn puts it.

But let's pursue that theme just a little bit further. Jesus takes our human nature—yours and mine—to the heart of God and he speaks to God his father in a human voice. In heaven the language they speak is human (not just angelic). Our words (human words) are heard at the very centre of the burning heart of reality.

St Augustine many centuries ago reflected on this in his many sermons on the psalms. Like most of us, St Augustine was rather worried by the fact that the psalms are not always fit for polite company. They are full of rude, angry, violent, hateful remarks; they contain protests against God, and spectacular ill-wishing against human beings. The psalms, you might say, are as human as it gets. So why do we recite them in public worship? aren't they just a reminder of those aspects of our humanity that are best left out of God's sight?

Augustine's point was this: apart from the fact that it is no use trying to leave bits of our humanity out of God's sight, God has actually taken an initiative in making our language his own. And therefore you have to imagine as you say or hear the psalms that Jesus is speaking them. And there's another shocking thought – Jesus saying, 'where are you, God?' Jesus saying, 'my God why have you forsaken me?' (But then of course he did.) Jesus saying, 'Destroy my enemies', and 'Blessed are those who dash their children against the stones' ... goodness knows what. Well, says the saint, it doesn't mean that Jesus is telling us that any and every human cry is good. It doesn't mean that Jesus endorses ideas about revenge on your enemies, or even shaking your fist at God the Father. But it does mean that Jesus treats us, our feelings, our tumultuous personalities, as real. He takes us seriously. He takes us seriously when we're moving towards God and each other in love; and, amazingly, he takes us seriously when we're moving in the opposite direction – when we are spinning downwards into destructive, hateful fantasies. He doesn't let go of us and he doesn't lose sight of us when we seek to lock ourselves up in the dark. Jesus hears all the words we speak – words of pain and protest and rage and violence. He hears them and he takes them and in the presence of the God the Father he says, 'This is the humanity I have brought home. It's not a pretty sight; it's not edifying and impressive and heroic, it's just real: real and needy and confused, and here it is (this complicated humanity) brought home to heaven, dropped into the burning heart of God – for healing and for transformation. That's quite a lot to bear in mind when you're saying or hearing the Psalms. But it's probably the only way of coping with rather a lot of them.

But all of that in the saint's thinking arises from this basic insight: Jesus ascends to heaven. The human life in which God has made himself most visible, most tangible, disappears from the human world in its former shape and is somehow absorbed into the endless life of God. And our humanity, all of it, goes with Jesus. When St Paul speaks of Christ 'filling all in all', as we heard in the epistle (Ephesians 1.15—end), we must bear in mind that picture: Jesus' humanity taking into it all the difficult, resistant, unpleasant bits of our humanity, taking them into the heart of love where alone they can be healed and transfigured.

And when in the other readings, from Acts (1.1—11) and the Gospel (Luke 24.44—end) Jesus speaks of the promise of the Father that is going to descend on the world, he's speaking of the way in which the gift of the Holy Spirit of God enables us not only to be a new kind of being but to see human beings afresh and to hear them differently. When the Holy Spirit sweeps over us in the wind and the flame of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit gives us the life of Jesus. It gives us something of Jesus' capacity to hear what is really being said by human beings. It gives us the courage, not to screen out those bits of the human world that are difficult, unpleasant, not edifying. It opens our eyes and our ears and our hearts to the full range of what being human means. So that, instead of being somebody who needs to be sheltered from the rough truth of the world, the Christian is someone who should be more open and more vulnerable to that great range of human experience. The Christian is not in a position to censor out any bits of the human voice, that troubling symphony which so often draws in pain and anger and violence. And to recognize that we're open to that and we hear it is not to say that we shrug our shoulders and say, 'Well that's just human nature' (one of the most unhelpful phrases in the moral vocabulary). On the contrary, we feel the edge, the ache in human anger and human suffering. And we recognize that it can be taken into Christ, and into the heart of the Father, it can be healed. It can be transfigured.

Jesus has gone before us into the darkest places of human reality. He has picked up the sounds that he hears. And think of what those sounds are: the quiet cries of the abused child; the despairing tears of a Sri Lankan in these last few days, surrounded and threatened by two different kinds of mindless violence. He picks up the cry of the hungry and the forgotten. He hears the human beings that nobody else hears. And he calls to us to say, 'You listen too'. He makes his own the cynical dismissal of faith by the sophisticated, and sees through it to the underlying need. He makes his own the joy and celebration and thanksgiving of human beings going about their routine work and finding their fulfillment in ordinary prosaic, bog-standard love and faithfulness. All of that is taken 'to the throne of Godhead, / to the Father's breast'. All of that on the throne of eternity in the burning heart of truth and reality.

So yes, indeed, the Ascension is a celebration of the glory of humanity, the unlikely possibilities of people like you and me, the eternal potential locked up in our muddled struggling lives. And a celebration too of God's capacity, through his Holy Spirit, to reach into those parts of humanity that are so far from glorious, that are rebellious and troubled and broken, to breathe through them, to take them home, to drop them into that fire and melt them and recast them.

The promise of the Father is that we as Christians will receive that level and dimension of divine life that we call 'Holy Spirit', so that, like Jesus, we will find that nothing human is alien to us. And the promise of the Father is that by the love of Christ spreading through us and in us, the world may be brought home to Christ, who brings it home to his Father.

We who are his body, 'the fullness of him who fills all in all' have to hear with his ears and see with his eyes. In the midst of a humanity flailing and struggling, failing and suffering, we see and we hear what God can do. We remember that Christ has 'raised our human nature / in the clouds at God's right hand', and our compassion is deepened a hundred-fold, our awareness of pain is deepened a hundred-fold, and (please God) by the gift of the Spirit, our hope is deepened a thousand-fold.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

by Fr. Altier

Reading I (Acts 1:1-11)
Reading II (Ephesians 4:1-13)
Gospel (St. Mark 16:15-20)

Today, as we celebrate this glorious feast of the Ascension of Our Blessed Lord into Heaven, one of the problems that we face is proof. People like to have proof of everything. And considering that this is not the norm, and since we have not seen it, we tend to doubt. It is a human problem. When we stop to think about the fact that this only happened to a couple of people – Our Lord ascended of His own power into Heaven and Our Lady was assumed by the power of God into Heaven, that is it – we look at that and say, "How do we know? Are we really sure that this happened?" Those who want to doubt will look at the Gospels and say, "Well, they were just trying to make something up so people would believe. It's a myth. It didn't really happen this way."

The thing that I have always found amazing is that, for most of us, if we would pull out a history book and read it, we would believe almost every word in it, and that written by somebody who was not even there and even by somebody who is writing perhaps a couple of thousand years after the fact. Still, we will believe that. The reason why we believe it is because this person is basing what he is telling us on sources that are close to the time. I have always found it interesting that when you talk to historians about the Gospels, what they will say is that Josephus uses Jesus' name so we know he really existed, as though the Gospels, the writers of the New Testament, and two thousand years' worth of saints is not evidence enough for these people. But because somebody who was secular used the name of Our Lord and talked about a certain Jesus who had lived around the time of Pilate, therefore Jesus really did exist.

The Gospels, above all, are the most historic books that we have. They are written by people who were eyewitnesses. They are written by people who certainly have a point that they want to make, but are not trying to make their point by making up stories or making somebody look good when they were not. All you have to do is read the Gospels and you see the human problems that the apostles had. You see the difficulties that the Church was facing early on. They are not trying to cover things up; they are not trying to hide things. If we read a secular history even the historians will say, "The problem is that history is written by the victor, and so we don't really know if it happened quite the way that they said it did because they want to make their own battle exploits look a little better than maybe they really were." The apostles did not do that. They did not try to make themselves look good. They did not try to present somebody as being heroic when in fact they were just like us, weak and flopping all over the place. What they did was to present the reality of things in the best way that they knew how. And as we heard in the first reading, Jesus had demonstrated Himself alive to His apostles in many ways after He rose from the dead.

Then at the end of the readings, Saint Luke speaks about the Ascension of Our Lord. Now we have no absolute scientific proof that this happened. We cannot. But that is also the reason why Saint Luke addresses his writing to a certain Theophilus – that is you. The word "Theophilus" means Lover of God. For one with faith, no proof is going to be necessary; for one without faith, no proof will ever be sufficient. It is not a question of having to prove scientifically that this happened; there are other things that we can look at. Saint Paul in the second reading, for instance, tells us that He ascended into Heaven and He has given gifts to men. All we need to do is look at our own lives. Well, maybe some of us better look at the lives of the saints instead; but at any rate, we need to simply look at the effect that the Ascension of Our Lord has had in the lives of millions of people throughout history to see the change in their lives, to see the holiness with which they lived. This is not something which one is going to be able to concoct in their own mind. If it is just a myth, it would not really matter to most people and they would recognize that it is a myth. And if it is just a myth, it would not change their lives; one would not be able to see the power of the Holy Spirit at work when we look at the lives of the saints. And if we are praying and trying to live the life that we are supposed to live, we need not look any further than our own lives and we will see the evidence of the Holy Spirit at work within us. When we see these sorts of things then we have to understand that this really is real. There are things that happen in our lives that we cannot explain by simple natural causes.

We need to stop and ask ourselves as seriously as we possibly can, "Do I really believe in all of the things that I profess when I pray the Creed?" That Creed is the synopsis of our Christian faith, but it is something which, especially when we pray it every single Sunday (and if we pray the Rosary everyday, we pray the Creed every single day), can easily run the risk of becoming just a bunch of rote phrases that we really do not pay much attention to. All we have to do is look at the first word and it says "Credo" – I believe. It cannot be just a bunch of rote phrases. This is the very essence of our belief as Christian people. So I really recommend to each one of us here that we take some time and ask ourselves as seriously as we possibly can, "Do I believe what I profess? Do I believe every word in this Creed?" because that is who we are. And it is only when we can truly say "yes" to accept everything that is there, to take it into our hearts and allow it to change our lives, only then will we truly be able to say, "I believe."

When we are able to say that then we will be able to look into our own lives and see the evidence of the Resurrection, of the Ascension, of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, of the power of Jesus Christ working in us and through us as we heard in the Gospel reading today. So when we hear Saint Mark telling us that Jesus was taken up from their midst, when we hear Saint Luke telling us that He rose into Heaven amid the clouds and the angels appeared to the apostles, there will be no doubt in our minds. We do not need any kind of scientific proof and there never will be one because the Lord has confirmed this in many, many ways.

Once we can accept the reality of this then we need to ask ourselves the next question: "If He ascended and has given gifts, what are the gifts that He has given to me?" Each one of us needs to ask that because once we recognize what the Lord has done then it is up to us to respond. When we think about the Ascension of Our Lord, the opening prayer today said that the Ascension is our glory and our hope. It is our glory because Jesus Christ has taken our humanity into Heaven where it is seated at the right hand of the Father. And it is our hope because He has promised us that where He is we also will be. That is why we need to look at this for ourselves. It is not just some empty thing that we are doing, but in fact it is critical. All we need to do is think on the practical level and say, "Had the Lord not ascended into Heaven, we could all be celebrating the resurrection of the dead and that would be it." We would be no better than the Jehovah's Witnesses: We can all rise from the dead and stay on earth. No, thank you! Once around is more than enough for me of this life and of this world. If the Lord did not ascend into heaven, there would be no hope; Heaven would not be open to us.

But even beyond that – the fact of looking to the end of our lives and ultimately to our own resurrection and assumption into Heaven – we need to look at what is happening now. Because He has opened Heaven and because He has sent the Holy Spirit and filled us with various gifts, it is now incumbent upon each one of us to accept the gifts that He has given to us and to cooperate with the grace of the Holy Spirit so that we will be found worthy on the day that we leave this world for our souls to be able to enter into that mansion that Our Lord has prepared for us.

When we see it in that light, we begin to understand that we cannot just go through these liturgical celebrations in a rote fashion. We cannot just simply look at something like the Ascension of Our Lord and say, "Well, that's nice. If it really happened it was a couple thousand years ago, what does it have to do with me?" It has everything to do with us…everything. We cannot keep these things at an arm's distance; we must take them into the heart and we must live the mysteries that we celebrate. This is who we are as Christian people. Remember on Easter Sunday, the reading that we heard from Saint Paul tells us that we are already seated at God's right hand. That is because Our Lord has taken our humanity; and because we are members of the Mystical Body of Christ, we are united with Him and therefore with Him we are already seated at the right hand of the Father. That is how important this feast is to us. Every single moment of our lives that we spend in the state of grace, this feast is central to who we are. We are not earthbound; we are already seated at God's right hand in Jesus Christ. Therefore, Saint Paul tells us, we are to set our sights on the things above, not on the things of earth, because this is not where we belong. We are made for Heaven.

By The Rev. Kirk Alan Kubicek

Scripture: Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47 or Psalm 93; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 24:44-53

"Why do you stand looking into heaven?" asked two men dressed in white robes to the disciples staring up into space.

Indeed, why do we stand looking into heaven? And where should we be looking?

Whenever a comet flies by, whenever there is a total or partial eclipse, people in record number are out looking into heaven. Combined with a resurgence of UFO mania, the popularity of "The X-Files," the Star Wars movies, photos from the space probe Galileo giving us hints of something like frozen chunks of water in space, breathtaking photos from the Hubble telescope viewing the very origins of the universe, people are looking into heaven more and more.

Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix must have been expressing the hopes of millions as they sang, "There must be some way out of here."

"Here" seems to be an increasingly difficult, hard and lonesome place to be.

Out there must be some other place, any other place, better than this, we think on our bad days.

So it must have seemed to the disciples. Their leader and savior had just taken off, seemingly skyward. The military and political authorities seemed stronger and more dangerous than ever.

As Jesus leaves them, they are pleading with him to restore the Kingdom to Israel.

"It's not for you to knowwwww … but the Spirit will come to you …"

And then he is gone. And like us, they are standing there looking up, searching the sky, wishing to see a sign that the time would be now. Or soon. Or at least certain to come.

Like Daniel or John the Revelator, they wished to see a dream or a vision. Like us, they would like to know what the plan is.

And like everyone, they would like an end to the loneliness.

To lose someone close is just plain difficult to bear. We all know what that feels like. It seems as if life cannot possibly go on. At least not at all like it had before they left us.

Yet, here, with Jesus, a promise is made.

The promise is: "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes. I send the promise of my father upon you until you are clothed with power from on high. Stay where you are. Stay in the city. Continually bless God in the temple. Be joyful."

"Stay where you are. It will come to you. God will come to you. God's Kingdom will come to you." This is not the message we want to hear.

We are people who are used to being on the move. We go where we wish, hope and desire. We are urged to go for all the gusto we can get. We are schooled that all you have to do is want it and work for it, and it shall be yours.

But Jesus says: "Stay where you are. Abide. Stop looking up. It will come to you right where you are. Continually bless God in the temple. Be joyful."

Does it help us to know that the concept of the Messiah and the Messianic Age or Kingdom was thought by Jesus and his contemporaries to take place right here – not somewhere else, not out there, not up in the sky, not some other time, not some future time, but now?

The Messianic Kingdom will come to us; to those of us who stay here in the city; to those of us who are joyful; to those of us who bless God; to those of us who know and love Jesus, his Kingdom is here and now.

We are not called to look for the Kingdom, to search the heavens for signs of its arrival, but to step into it here and now with all that we are, all that we have, all that we say and all that we do.

To those of us who stay here joyfully blessing God, it will come. Those who participate in this life with an attitude of Thanksgiving will receive its full promise.

About The Author:

The Rev. Kirk Alan Kubicek has served as rector and assistant in a broad variety of parishes over the past 28 years. He is currently chaplain and teaches at St. Timothy's School for girls, the Diocese of Maryland girls' boarding school, where he teaches World Religions and American History.