Admit it—you didn’t realize that today is a significant day on the Christian calendar, right?

Today is Ascension Day, when the Church commemorates the ascension of our Lord into heaven—forty days after Easter. Yet, this holy day often feels like the forgotten stepchild of the Christian year. You might even say Ascension Thursday is the Cinderella of the Church calendar: faithful, essential, but largely overlooked.

Historically, Ascension Day was a day of obligation for Catholics and a major festival among many Protestant traditions. In recent decades, however, attendance at Ascension services has steadily declined. Fewer people attend church outside of major holidays, Thursday worship isn’t convenient for modern schedules, and many Protestant churches—including most Lutheran congregations—and even some Catholic dioceses now transfer the celebration to the following Sunday to encourage broader participation.

But even if the observance has faded from our collective calendar, its spiritual significance remains. The ascension of Jesus is not an afterthought—it’s part of the full arc of the Gospel. I’m reminded of one of the most influential teachers in my life, Karoline Lewis, a renowned scholar and dear friend. She often teaches that for the Evangelist John, the incarnation—the Word becoming flesh—is not a static moment in Bethlehem, but a movement. That movement reaches its fullness in Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. These are not separate events, she says, but a continuous revelation of Christ’s identity and mission.

We don’t question the importance of Good Friday or Easter Sunday. But Ascension Day? We tend to shrug it off. What’s up with that?

Perhaps today is a good time to pause and reflect. The ascension is not just about Jesus rising—it’s about Christ reigning. It completes the promise that where he is, we also shall be.

So yes, we’re caving a little to modern life and holding our observance this Sunday instead of today. But please join us for Ascension Sunday on June 1 at 9:30 AM. Our worship will include the account from the Acts of the Apostles and a Gospel reading from John—the Evangelist who reminds us that death, resurrection, and ascension are all part of one great promise: that the Word became flesh for us, rose for us, and reigns for us.

Blessings,

Pastor Marc