Ascension

When: 40 days after Easter, always a Thursday (the date changes each year)

Ascension remembers that forty days after Easter, Jesus was taken up into heaven while his friends watched. Before he left, he told them to share his good news with everyone and promised that he would be with them always.

Where it came from

Luke tells of the Ascension twice, at the end of his Gospel and at the start of Acts. In Acts 1:3, Luke says that Jesus appeared to his followers for forty days. Then, while they watched, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. Two men in white told them that he would come back in the same way.

The feast on the fortieth day after Easter was kept in many places by the late 300s. Pilgrims in Jerusalem gathered on the Mount of Olives, where tradition says it happened. Christians have long understood the Ascension to mean that Jesus is with God and that his work continues through his followers.

How it is kept around the world

• Public holiday. Ascension Thursday is a public holiday in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and many other countries.
• Germany. It is also Father's Day (Vatertag), when many men go for outdoor walks with wagons and music, which is mostly an adult celebration.
• England. In some parishes, people “beat the bounds”, walking the borders of the parish and tapping boundary stones, around Ascension and the days before it.
• Churches. Many churches hold a service with a procession and hymns about Christ's rule. In some, the Paschal candle is put out or taken away after the gospel reading.
• The Philippines and Latin America. In many countries where the feast falls on a Thursday, it is moved to the Sunday after, called Ascension Sunday.

Christians differ

Christians in all traditions believe that Jesus was raised and is with God, but they understand “heaven” and “ascended” in different ways. Some take the story literally, others as a picture of Jesus's authority and presence. All agree that it ends the time of his appearing and begins the time of the church. Orthodox churches keep Ascension on a different date because of the Easter calendar.

Do it together

Ages 0 to 2

• Lift a balloon-like soft ball gently up and say “up”. Look up at the sky together.
• Blow bubbles and watch them float up.

Ages 3 to 5

• Look at clouds and draw what you see. Talk about how Jesus said, “I am with you always.”
• Wave goodbye and hello to a toy, and say “I am with you.”

Ages 6 to 8

• Read Acts 1:1–11 and act it out. What do the friends do after Jesus goes?
• Make a paper-cloud mobile and write on each cloud one way to share good news.

Ages 9 to 12

• Find the Mount of Olives on a map. Read how Luke tells the story in two places and compare.
• Write down Jesus's last words before he left (Matthew 28:19–20) in your own words.

Ages 13 to 17

• Read Acts 1:1–11 and Luke 24:44–53. How does the church's mission begin?
• Think about what it means to carry on someone's work when they are not there.

A short prayer

Jesus, you promised to be with us always. Help us to remember your presence and to share your love wherever we go. Amen.

Mark as done

Where this comes from

• Gospel of Luke 24:44 to 53; Acts 1:1 to 11; Gospel of Matthew 28:16 to 20
• Paul F. Bradshaw and Maxwell E. Johnson, The Origins of Feasts, Fasts and Seasons in Early Christianity (Liturgical Press, 2011)
• F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone, eds., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2005), entries “Ascension” and “Rogation Days”

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.