Settling for Resurrection and Forgetting to Ascend

Our image this week is my favorite piece of resurrection stained glass. This piece can be found at The Episcopal Cathedral Church of St. John in Albuquerque, NM off of the main sanctuary. What I find most striking is Jesus is not represented in the glass art – Jesus is gone!

We teach that we are a resurrection people. We proclaim this truth with confidence on Easter morning, with lilies in full bloom and hallelujahs ringing in the air. But somewhere in the celebration, we often forget that resurrection isn’t the final act of the story. There’s an Ascension.

The Gospels and Acts make it clear: Jesus rose, but he did not stay. Forty days after Easter, Jesus ascended—not as an afterthought, but as a vital moment in the sacred story. And yet, we often live our spiritual lives as if resurrection is the end of the journey. We long for new life, restoration, second chances. But, we resist the letting go that ascension requires.

The disciples stood on the mountain as Jesus was lifted from their sight. They had already grieved him once. Now, even with the joy of resurrection fresh in their hearts, they had to say goodbye again. Not to death this time—but to presence. To the nearness they had grown to cherish.

We are so often those disciples. We want to hold on to what we love and to what we know. We want resurrection to be the happy ending to the story that lets us stay in the garden or the upper room, breaking bread forever. But Jesus didn’t stay, and neither can we.

Ascension teaches us the sacredness of parting – It is a reminder that release is not failure, and that departure is not abandonment. There is holiness in the goodbye. Not because it is easy or painless—but because it is purposeful.

Jesus ascends so that the disciples can become the church.

Jesus parts so that our faith can stretch into the world, rather than remain rooted only in the simplicity of physical presence.

There’s something profoundly sacred about learning to let go—not in despair, but in trust. It is the same trust we extend when we launch a child into adolescence and then again into adulthood; a pastor into a new appointment; a friend into a new season of life even when we do not fully understand the decision to go. Sacred parting honors what has been and makes room for what will be.

So many of us live in the space between resurrection and ascension, don’t we? We rejoice in what has been restored, but we resist the call to release. We want to hold the resurrected moments tightly, to keep the miracle near. But Jesus calls us to move—upward, outward, forward. To ascend is not to escape. It is to make room.

This season, may we resist the temptation to settle for resurrection. May we recognize the sacredness in parting. And may we have the courage – not just to celebrate the miracle—but to ascend into the mystery.

Blessings on the journey,

Rev. Dr. Kelly Jackson Brooks, LPCC, CEAP