Ascension

OBJECTIVE

The Church celebrates the Feast of the Ascension on Thursday, the fortieth day in the Holy Fifty Days. It is considered one of the Seven Major Feasts of the Lord. On this day, the Lord ascended by His divine power to Heaven and sat at the right hand of the Father. The Ascension of Christ Himself was part of His plan for our ascension as well. He ascended to prepare a place for us in His Kingdom.

INTRODUCTION & HOOK - 5 Minutes

Option One: Psalm 150 Ascension Response

Sing the chorus response of Psalm 150 for the Feast of Ascension.

Option Two: Coptic Church Calendar

Ask the students how they know when their birthdays are coming up, they should answer because it's on the same day every year. But some of the major feasts of our Church are different every year, so how do we know when they will be celebrated? Discuss some key elements in the church calendar:

Great Fast: 40 days for the 40 days our Lord fasted + 7 days of preparation + 7 days for Pascha
Resurrection: Holy 50 days, no fasting at all
Ascension: one of the seven major feasts that will be studied in this lesson, 40 days after Resurrection and always on a Thursday
Pentecost: always Sunday, 10 days after Ascension and 50 days after Resurrection, Apostles Fast starts the following day

HOLY SCRIPTURE - 5 Minutes

Please read the passage of the Ascension in Acts 1:4-11 from the Bible. Read with inflection in your voice, standing up, and engaging the students, the goal is to make it come alive for them.

Memory Verse - "Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight." Acts 1:9

CONTENT (KEY POINTS) - 15 Minutes

We rejoice because the story of the Crucifixion was followed with the Resurrection, then the Ascension. In the Resurrection it was possible to destroy death, but Christ still remained on earth. While in the Ascension, He is raised up over the earth, in glory, to heaven.

The miracle of the Ascension gives us a kind of hope from two sides: The first one is meant for those who were scandalized by the Cross of our Lord and by the accompanying humiliations and sufferings, in that the riposte was first in the glory of the Resurrection, then in the glory of the Ascension.

In that way, faith returned to those who had thought that everything ended with the Cross; and we have the hope that after every cross, there is resurrection and there is ascension. This hope accompanied the martyrs and the confessors in every generation.

The Ascension of the Lord gives us three promises:

The first promise is the sending of the Holy Spirit to remain with us eternally. Thus He said to them in advance: "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you." (John 16:7) And so it happened; and He sent to them the Holy Spirit ten days after His Ascension.
As for the second promise, it is His word to them: "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you." (John 14:18) And His word also: "I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matt. 28:20) He fulfilled this promise also, and is still fulfilling it. The beloved Saint John saw Him in the midst of the seven churches, (Rev. 1: 13-14), holding the angels of the seven churches "or their pastors", in His right hand.
As for the third promise, it is His word to His Apostles: "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." (John 12:32) He draws us to Himself in order to lift us up to heaven, as He said: "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." (John 14: 2-3)

Consequently, it is a promise that we shall be with Him, on earth and in heaven. On earth: "I am with you always", and "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." (Matt. 18:20) And in heaven: "that where I am, there you may be also." (John 14:3) And as the Apostle saint Paul said: "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." (1 Thess. 4:17) How great is that glory

DISCUSSION (Challenge) - 10 Minutes

Share the Discussion Icon in the attachments below with the students. Ask them what they see and encourage participation in discussing the icon. Lead them in their observations with positive feedback, guide them to read the following elements:

Our Lord is the largest figure to highlight His glory and importance in the story
Our Lord is wearing all white to symbolize His resurrection and glory
The stars around Him are symbols for Heaven
The two angels ministering to Him are the two that spoke to the Apostles in verse 10-11
The Apostles in this icon consist of the 11 faithful disciples, Saint Mary, and two holy women
The cloud under our Lord is mentioned in verse 9
In verse 10, it says the apostles "looked steadfastly toward heaven" and in the icon we see them all looking up

LIFE APPLICATION - 10 Minutes

In the Ascension of the Lord to heaven, He has drawn our sights and our hearts also to heaven. Therefore it was said about the Ascension of the Lord to heaven that the Apostles: "looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up" (Acts 1:10). That is one of the heavenly lessons to us, that we should be steadfastly looking toward heaven where the Lord has ascended, and to heaven from where He will come to us again.

The Feast of the Ascension teaches us the principle of ascending. Spiritual life or life with the Lord, is a perpetual ascension, a constant development upwards, till we arrive at the life of perfection. It is a continuous relationship to heaven.

ACTIVITY - 10 Minutes

Option One: Ascension Cup Craft

Materials: attachment, blue plastic cups, string, scissors, scotch tape and coloring material

Distribute one copy of the Ascension Cup Craft attachment below to each student. Have them color our Lord and the memory verse, then cut out all the pieces. Turn the cups upside down and poke a hole on the bottom of the cup. Tape the clouds on the outside of the upside down cup. Next, pull a string through the hole on the bottom of the cup. Tape the memory verse on the top of the string and our Lord on the bottom of the string. When completed, the student should be able to pull on the memory verse and watch the Lord go up in the clouds.

Option Two: Cut and Paste the Ascension

Distribute copies of the Cut and Paste the Ascension attachment at the bottom of this page. Give one page and a sheet of blue construction paper to each child. Have them follow the directions to color, cut, and glue to create the Ascension scene. Review the three promises that we look forward to in faith and the students write it in the three clouds. Make sure they write their names on their Ascension scene and take it home to review.

Option Three: Sorting the Church Calendar Crossword

Distribute one copy of the Sorting the Church Calendar Crossword attachment to each child. Have the students match the correct feast names and clues to the corresponding place on the puzzle. Answer Key is available as a separate attachment, if needed. Discuss the importance of each feast as a class. Have them write their names on the paper and take it home to practice their memory verse.

Option Four: Sing an Ascension Communal Melody

Post the lyrics on the screen or distribute the lyrics in the attachment below to the students.

SERVANT RESOURCES

PARENTS CORNER/HOMEWORK

As a cloud took Him out of the sight of the Apostles in His Ascension, so we also shall come with Him on the clouds on the last day. Choose a nice day this week to go outside with your child and look up at the sky. Review the story of the Ascension and imagine together the glory that God is waiting to share with us in Heaven.