Reflection for the Feast of the Ascension Scripture: ‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them. (John 14.18-21)Reflection: Thursday of this week is Ascension Day. In the forty days after his Resurrection Jesus appears many times to his disciples, teaching them and preparing them for what is to come. After these 40 days Jesus goes out with them to the Mount of Olives, where a cloud hides him from their sight. They will not see him again.But this is not a final parting. It’s the prelude to the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the fulfilment of Jesus’s promise to be present with all people, everywhere and always. This is not the end of the Jesus story. He has promised to be with us always, until the end of time. The story continues, and we are part of it. May we know and make known in our own lives the power of the risen, ascended Lord.Revd Rosemary Kobus van Wengen
Reflection for the Fifth Sunday of EasterScripture:‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe[a] in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?[b] 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.’[c] 5 Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ 6 Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14 1-6)Reflection: He may be known as ‘doubting Thomas’, but perhaps ‘honest Thomas’ or ‘courageous Thomas’ would be nearer the mark! Thomas, the one disciple who had the courage to say what everyone else was thinking but didn’t dare say. And, because he had the courage to confess his ignorance, we were given these words of life: ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. We are all - each one of us - at one time or another just like Thomas: ‘We don’t know the way’ But if we have the courage, just like Thomas, to ask the awkward questions and to share how we feel with Jesus it means that we give ourselves the chance to get to know the way: Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.Lyn Hayes
