Dr Rowan Williams
In his Ascension Day sermon at St Martin-in-the-Fields broadcast by the BBC this evening, the Archbishop of Canterbury urged Christians not be distressed by the disappearance of the ascended Jesus from the earth or dismayed by feelings of loneliness or emptiness after the previous excitement of Easter. We shouldn’t need to cling to the security and safety of the familiar presence of the earthly Jesus: he is now all-pervasive, on a higher plane both within and beyond all things.
Rather we rejoice in the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit. We resolve, so empowered, to be new human beings bringing the difference that love makes in the world. We can offer ourselves again as signs of God’s work in the world, through our compassion and service.
