The Ascension: The Love Stays with Us

Bishop Susan preaches at St. Peter’s on the Ascension, describing the disciples’ in-between moment after 40 days of the risen Jesus teaching about new creation before ascending from the Mount of Olives. Drawing on trips to Israel, she portrays Jerusalem as holy yet conflicted, both today and in Jesus’ time, and imagines Jesus ascending with a clear view of the Temple, Golgotha, Roman power, and ordinary life. She explains the Ascension as completing Jesus’ earthly mission and offers two perspectives: looking up, Jesus ascends still marked by crucifixion, carrying wounded human humanity into God’s presence and interceding for us; looking down, the angels redirect disciples from staring upward to witnessing in widening circles. Christians are called to be Jesus’ hands and feet, living sacrificial love that seeks justice, peace, and dignity, returning to forgiveness and trying again amid division and fear.00:00 Welcome and Context00:14 Ascension Mystery01:30 Jerusalem Then and Now04:15 Mount of Olives View07:16 What Ascension Means07:59 View Up Wounded Healed10:04 View Down Our Mission12:31 Love as Witness13:39 Final Amen