Ascension Day

God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.

Psalm 47:5 RSV

Ascension Day

The Ascension originated as a Thursday celebration because of the story of the event from the opening of the Acts of the Apostles. There, Luke says that Jesus rose from the dead, appeared to believers for 40 days and then ascended to the heavens. Even though the accounts of the ascension in the Gospels suggest it took place after a shorter period of time, the liturgy of the church has honored the chronology from Acts by celebrating the Ascension on Thursday of the sixth week of Easter.