On Thursday 29 May, we mark Ascension Day. This Feast, which always falls on the 40^th day of the Easter Season (cf. Acts 1.3), marks a significant point of transition during the season of Eastertide. Rowan Williams describes the difference thus: the first resurrection appearances are marked by confusion, a combination of recognition and non-recognition, of seeing and not seeing. The first believers are dazzled by the light of the resurrection. The Ascension marks that point when rather than a dazzling light that absorbs all our attention, the light of the resurrection becomes the light we see by. Our vision is transformed so that we can look around and see a hurt and bruising world  with a renewed sense of hope and love.

 

Our celebrations begin with the traditional ceremony of Beating the Bounds as we mark out the ancient boundaries of the parish and pray for all who live here as well as the many pilgrims and visitors who come here. With cherry cake at All Souls and ice cream at Oriel, this is a joyful occasion. We will begin from the University Church promptly just after 9.00am. In the evening, we will join with our friends at Merton College for a Sung Eucharist to mark Ascension Day. The service begins at 6.00pm.

 

Ascension Day is then followed by a period of nine days as we approach the Feast of Pentecost. These nine days provide an opportunity for a period of prayer - a tradition which has given rise to the practice of a novena, a period of nine days of prayer when we are invited to pray for a particular intention. As we approach the Feast of Pentecost, when the Bishop of Oxford will come to St Mary's for the University Confirmation Service (at which eleven people from St Mary's will be confirmed), please pray for them and pray for the renewal of the Church, that it may become a place of hospitality and a taste of life for all.