When Jesus ascends, he does so, bearing gifts for you.
The ascension is not about Jesus going away. It's about Jesus taking his rightful place so that he might fill the world with his presence and power.

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Love for our neighbor can be taxing. We may even decide it’s not worth the cost. But in this moment I found a blessed reminder of how different God's love is, and how our value rests in Christ alone.
The people gathered in Jerusalem that day were making a bold statement of faith. They believed Jesus was the New David.
Paul has gone through all this explanation to belabor the point: The incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything.
Jesus did not come to be first. He came to be faithful, faithful to His Father’s mission for you.
The following is an excerpt from Ken Sundet Jones’ chapter in “Who Am I?” written by Scott Ashmon (1517 Publishing, 2020).
He would not go back on his word, for his word is the word of the Father and the Spirit, and they all say “come.”
God is not an impassive monster who is unfamiliar with our horrendous ailments. Rather, in Christ, God familiarizes himself with our suffering and becomes particularly attuned to the fragility of fallen humanity.
Only through Christ and his work are our sins forgiven, and our consciences set free and made glad.
The kingdom I seek is the lower-case realm ruled over by the almighty upper-case Me.
The gift of new life through His death and resurrection, creates Christ’s children, all of whom are being sent with beautiful feet and beautiful tongue and lips to serve as the Lord’s hitmen and midwives.
If your congregation promotes and supports “family values,” you should be prepared to take this text head-on.
St. Paul asserts the baptized have died in Christ but this death then makes them free to live unto Christ. Complicated? Yes, a little. Let us try to clarify things a bit.