May 17, 2026 – The Seventh Sunday of Easter
The Rev. Cal Calhoun
In the Name of God, the God who continues to surprise us with Love: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today, the Seventh Sunday in Easter, is also known as Ascension Sunday.
But let’s back up a bit. Our church calendar starts around the first of December with the First Sunday in Advent. So we start the church year in preparation for Jesus’ birth. Advent calls us to preparation and anticipation. We then celebrate Jesus’ birth on Christmas and the short 12-day season of Christmas that ends on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6. The season of the Epiphany follows. This season’s length depends on when Easter falls. Epiphany is the season of new understanding. We hear about the early events in Jesus’ ministry as the disciples and others try to come to terms with who Jesus is. The last Sunday in Epiphany we always hear the story of the Transfiguration. And that event of light and revelation, leaves no doubt in the disciples’ mind about who Jesus is. We transition to Lent, in which we journey with Jesus to Jerusalem and to the cross. Lent is sometimes referred to as our 40 days in the wilderness. Our wilderness brings us to Holy Week and the cross. The only good thing about the cross is that it is followed by Easter, Jesus’ resurrection.
The season of Easter is the referred to has the Great 50 Days of Easter. I think it is somehow telling about our understanding of God that Lent is 40 days in the wilderness and Easter is the Great 50 Day celebration of God’s Love. Which is to say that there is a greater emphasis on the celebration of new life, than the time in the wilderness. The Gospel of Luke and The Acts of the Apostles are where we hear about Jesus’ Ascension into heaven. Matthew and John don’t mention an ascension and in Mark we only get an ascension in the Longer Ending of Mark, which the scholars tell us was a later addition. In the third verse of Acts, Luke tells us that: “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.” As a result, the Feast of the Ascension is always 40 days after Easter. Since Easter is always on a Sunday, Ascension is always on a Thursday. That would have been last Thursday. So we hear about the Ascension on the following Sunday. Today! The season of Easter ends after next Sunday’s celebration of the arrival of the Holy Spirit in a new way: Pentecost.
Today we remember the Jesus’ ascension in to heaven. This event was not expected by the disciples. Their reaction lets us know this comes as a surprise. As we heard some weeks ago, holy people or even emperors were reported to have ascended into heaven in Jesus’ day. Ascension was not that uncommon of a report about holy or royal people. But the disciples seem to feel abandoned following Jesus’ ascension. They were just getting used to his appearances after his death, and then he’s gone.
Brother Curtis Almquist at SSJE, the Episcopal monastery in Boston says this about prayer: Prayer is a mystery that begins in God. Our prayer is always in response to God’s initiative. It is God who has caught our attention. Mysteriously, in our prayer for others, we complete a triangle with God, our own self, and these other persons for whom we pray.
It is God’s calling to us, or God’s drawing that causes us to respond with prayer. When we pray for others, we mysteriously, Br. Curtis says, complete a triangle with God, our own self, and those for whom we pray. Which is to say, when we pray for others, we help strengthen that direct connection between them and God. It is part of our understanding of the ways God loves us. God loves us first. And our prayer is always a response to that love. When we express our love for others, by praying for them, we can only enhance or strengthen their connection to God or response to God’s love.
I think that triangle that starts with God’s love is evident here on Ascension Sunday. Jesus, who is God, the eternal God, in existence throughout all eternity, in community and communion with God, comes to earth. As we understand it, his mission is to help us understand how much God loves us. To restore our relationship to God and improve our understanding of God. And if we are true to the message of Jesus, we are to express that love by loving our neighbors, especially those in need.
So there is the triangle of Jesus come to earth. Living on earth, sharing his message from God. And then returning to God. Jesus ascended with wounded hands and feet, and all the other things that made him human. He had a need for food and for companionship. He was vulnerable to heartbreak and grief and betrayal. God comes down to restore all, and God takes it all back up. The good news is that all will be healed, all will be fully loved. Julian of Norwich said it this way, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all matter of things shall be well.”
And I think there is another triangle. Jesus come to earth with his message. If we, as followers of Jesus and his message reach out to help others in a tangible way, we can only support and strengthen those we help with their connection to God. Just like that first triangle of how our prayer for others mysteriously helps them while deepening our own relationship with God.
Whether we help others with prayer or with their physical or emotional needs, or both, we are supporting and strengthening their relationship with God, while deepening our own relationship with God at the same time. Br Curtis is right. It is a mystery. It is a mystery how love and prayer work in a way that only multiplies what they can accomplish. And it is the primary way we contribute to bringing about the kingdom of God. As the bishop, mentioned two weeks ago, it may indeed feel like the world is on fire. But we continue to support, build and uphold the kingdom of God, by doing what we do: saying our prayers and helping our neighbors.
May your prayers be a clear message that God loves you. And may your prayers for others help meet their needs and support and strengthen their relationship with God. And may the kingdom of God be strengthened whether we see it today or not. Amen.
Year A – The Seventh Sunday of Easter – May 17, 2026 – The Rev. Cal Calhoun
