Acts 1:1-11

Dear congregation, I have brought a picture with me. A coloured copperplate engraving from 1625/27 showing the events of the Ascension. The picture is by the Swiss-German copper engraver Matthias Merian.

It shows a crowd of astonished people on a mountain, and at the top edge of the picture a thick fluffy cloud floats towards the sky with two feet sticking out of it. Ascension!

Jesus floats away, and the last thing we see of him are his feet ...

Feet with which Jesus always walked ahead of his disciples.

Feet that never tired of walking from village to village.

Feet that were anointed at least once with precious oil and dried with hair.

Feet that were nailed to wood.

Feet that - as it says in the Gospel of Luke - brought the idea of the kingdom of God to the disciples for another 40 days after the resurrection.

Now they float away, leaving the disciples and those looking at the image alone with their own feet.

That is where the disciples are now, that is where we are today - we can only look to heaven and believe and trust that there is this love, this power that gives us our stability here on earth. According to the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples had even received the message that Jesus had not disappeared never to be seen again, but that he would return one day and that everything on earth would then be as it is in heaven. We can see from this that the churches in Luke's time were saying goodbye to the idea that the kingdom of God would begin in the foreseeable future.

With the Ascension, this dawn is postponed to an unspecified day in the future. And again, I realize that this idea has not changed much to this day. We are actually standing under the sky and can only marvel and wonder what we are doing with the time in between.

Let us mingle with the disciples and listen to what they are thinking: what has happened with the Ascension and what is changing in their lives now?

John is the first to regain his speech: "I have always told you that he is not of this world. He is now where he belongs." Thomas replies: "What do you mean? We belong to him too. Why are we sitting here, lonely and abandoned? That is even worse than after the crucifixion." "You'll see," John replies calmly, "we'll stay connected to him, our task will be to win people on earth for heaven."

Peter begins to think aloud: "If he had disappeared like that on the cross, I would haveunderstood it better, but why now, when we have finally begun to really understand how God in heaven is also there on earth?" Philip is the first to break the silence: "Actually, you've already given the answer yourself, Peter. Now that we've finally understood what it's all about, Jesus is setting us on our own two feet."

"Look, Peter. When Jesus took you out of your village, you followed him faithfully. And you simply followed Jesus. Where he directed his steps, you directed yours. And when he really wanted to be on his own, it was difficult to make it clear to you that you really didn't have to follow him wherever he went. When do you think, the time will come to take your own steps again?"

"Why your own steps? My life is about following Jesus. I don't want to take my own steps!"

Philip sighs: "Do you remember, Peter, how Jesus once sent us out in pairs to tell people about God's kingdom and even to heal them?"

Peter's eyes light up: "Yes, I went out with Andrew on his behalf - a great week."

"And who, Peter, showed you the way back then?"

"Well, Andrew, you remember," Peter turns to his brother, "we always prayed back then and then decided together. And God was with us on our path."

"Exactly," Philip breathes a sigh of relief, "and yet they were your own steps. Back then it was only for a limited time, then Jesus went ahead again because we hadn't understood enough to always do it that way. But now, now it's different. And did you not hear what the two men in their white robes said to us? Why are you standing there looking up at the sky? Those were their words."

Thomas is confused: yes, what do they mean by that? Where else are we supposed to look?

Now it is Peter who slowly begins to understand: I think they mean that we should not mourn what is past and gone... it is our turn to move our own feet... to be witnesses, to remember God's kingdom until Jesus returns one day. Maybe it means we'll go two and two again like we did back then. But what do I do when I don't know what to do? And where will we all meet again then?"

Andrew puts his arm around Peter's shoulders: "Peter, I think we should be courageous and rely on our community. As long as we cling to the physical Jesus, we don't take any responsibility. But he has given us authority, we should take responsibility."

John adds: "And what's more, he has left us so many things in which he is always present." "That's right," Thomas interjects, "when we break bread, for example - you can feel him there. And always when we pray with his words."

"And then," John looks dreamily into the clouds as he speaks, "we will also experience his power in a completely different way. Hasn't he just promised us the power of his spirit? In future, we will no longer be disciples, no, we will be witnesses. He is sending us as hisapostles. With the power of his Spirit, we will be strong. Our feet can go far beyond Israel." The whole world should know about Jesus, about this story of hope. Jesus is and remains very close to us, crucified and exalted.

Peter looks intently at the clouds in the sky: "Look, it almost seems to me as if the sky is brighter now. If Jesus is in heaven now, then it is certainly very bright there, but then it is also brighter for us on earth ... we have to keep that in our hearts."

Philip smiles at Peter: "Sometimes, my dear fellow, you speak more wisely than a philosopher. That's one way of putting our task: to show people that heaven reaches down to earth. Come on, get up, let's go!"

And we, dear congregation?

I believe that many people feel a little like Peter. I wish Jesus would show up now and then to touch me and help me along. But Ascension Day is the festival that puts us in charge. A feast of maturity, so to speak. Jesus as a human being is only visible to us in the traces he left behind.

However, the power, the power of God's love, is still there just as it was 2000 years ago. This power makes us descendants of the apostles today. People who stand up everywhere and again and again for the fact that God's power applies on earth as it does in heaven. People who make it visible that heaven shines brightly through the darkness. And the earth should be as bright as heaven. Empowered by God's Spirit, we can put aside any fear of what may come and courageously shape the time we have been given on earth. We can trust that Jesus is and will remain very close to us.

Amen.