Rise Up
Reflection on the Gospel, for the third week in May.
As a child, I attended “Training Union” in the Baptist church. There, along with Sunday School and Girls in Action, I learned a great deal about the call to “go out and baptize all nations.” Yet even then, I felt a quiet confusion: nearly everyone I knew was already Baptist and, presumably, did not need to be baptized again.
Reading today’s Gospel in light of those early experiences helps me understand that message more deeply.
In Matthew’s account of the Ascension, the focus is not only on Jesus going up into heaven. It is also about the disciples being sent out into the world. The call is not simply upward—it is outward. We are invited to share Christ’s joy and message with all who share this planet with us. This calling presents a profound challenge. It is often easier to look upward, imagining God as distant and removed. But when we truly look outward—at our neighbors, our communities, and the world—we are confronted with brokenness. We see how far humanity can be from love, justice, and communion. We see how far we sometimes are from Jesus’s command to “go.”
So what does it mean to be Christ’s witnesses “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8)?
The Ascension calls us into the life of “all nations,” into the fullness of God’s presence that is not confined to any one place. If God is everywhere, then being with God does not require traveling somewhere else. Instead, we encounter God right here—among our neighbors. We participate in making disciples when we offer food, companionship, and joy to those around us. At the same time, the Ascension challenges us to rise up. This upward movement is not about geography; it is about transformation. It is about following the way of Christ.
Too often, we lift God into the clouds, imagining God as “out there” and beyond reach. In doing so, we risk overlooking the sacredness of the people and the world around us. Yet God has been revealed to us so that we, in turn, might show God to others—simply by showing up with love and presence.
As Christ rises, we are invited to rise as well:
To rise and help those who hunger and thirst
To love those who have not been loved—those without shelter, those whose voices are silenced
To proclaim that if something is not about love, it is not about God
In this Easter season, we are called to rise up and sing a new song. The fullness of God is already with us—above us, within us, below us—in moments of both worship and doubt. The Ascension challenge is not abstract; it is personal, and filled with joy.
I remain grateful for what I learned in Training Union. Those early lessons continue to challenge me—to listen for where God is still calling me now--upward and outward.