Ascension 2026

When he had said this, as they were looking on,
he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
--Acts 1:1-11

So now a nothing meets our eye,
a gap between the earth and air.
Our Lord ascended to the sky
and we are all left standing there:

left looking for the one we lost
returned again then taken back—
the world a word that he had glossed
is now lacuna in our lack;

left waiting for what will not come,
our brother as we’d known him long—
the voice we loved has fallen dumb
and no more do we hear his song;

left yearning for his promises,
remembering the word he spoke
to send another friend to us
as real as was the bread he broke;

left staring at an empty hill,
yet through through this emptiness we grope—
his promised something comes to fill
the empty hands that reach for hope.

So now we wait for what he said
he’d send us from his Father’s hall
and find him in the broken bread—
left hoping, yet not left at all.

Ascension of Christ by Adriaen van Overbeke, c. 1510–1520 - https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/antwerp-school-circa-1510-1520-the-ascension-of-5790472-details.aspx, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=83155533