Happy Ascension Day! A bit of a forgotten holiday in the American Church Calendar (but isn't everything except Christmas and Easter?), Ascension Day has great theological importance. In many ways, it was the culmination of Christ's earthly work and where he truly opened for us the way into God's presence (where he sits at the right hand of God). The (later) West has tended to look at the fruits of the Ascension in terms of bringing Christ back down. During the Eucharistic debates of the early Reformation, some of the more radical reformers argued against the Real Presence because Christ was "stuck" at the right hand of God. That radical view surely limits the work of Jesus Christ. The East has tended (with the early Church) to view us as being brought to God in the Eucharist. The "Lift Up Your Hearts" in the liturgy is more than just a metaphorical call to focus on God. It is a recognition that in the sacred mystery of the Eucharist God takes us, in a real way, to heaven, where he lives and reigns with his ascended Son. Thanks be to God for that!