Superfluous Necessity

Today, we observe Ascension Sunday, perhaps the most neglected of the “five evangelical feasts” which are celebrated in most Christian traditions (along with Christmas, Easter, Good Friday, and Pentecost). This day marks the commemoration of the events of Acts 1:6-11 when Jesus completed His earthly ministry by ascending into Heaven and sitting down at the right hand of the Father. I’d like to draw your attention to two Ascension hymns we’ll be singing this morning, A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing and O Christ, Our Hope. The former, which will open and close the service this morning, was originally a Latin text by the English monastic the Venerable Bede and will be sung to the familiar LASST UNS ERFREUEN tune. O Christ, Our Hope (also a medieval Latin text set to a German tune, in this case LOBT GOTT IHR CHRISTEN) is often associated with the Easter season. While the second verse speaks eloquently of Jesus’ “cruel death” on the cross to set His people free, the following verses echo Bede’s phrase, calling Him “ascended Lord.” Lines like these should remind us that our Lord not only died for our sins and rose from the dead, but that He also ascended into Heaven. Even now, He intercedes for us from His Father’s throne “in glorious robes arrayed.” —Henry C. Haffner