Spiritual Treasure
by Harold Gingerich, Founding Pastor of Eden Worship Center
An Almost Forgotten Holy Day
Christmas and Easter have always
held a significant place on the religious calendar. In fact, those are the
two Sundays when most people make
it a point to be in church. But there
is another Christian holiday, without
which Christmas and Easter would be
of relative importance, that basically
goes by unnoticed by the vast majority of North American believers. And
frankly, for many of those who do
observe it, the emphasis has become
more social than spiritual. Much of the
responsibility for that rests squarely
on the shoulders of those of us who are
pastors and spiritual leaders. That forgotten holy day is Ascension Day which
falls on Thursday May 9th, this year.
One of the interesting aspects of
international travel has been to discover how Christians in other parts of the
world practice their faith. It was both
shocking and embarrassing to discover
that in Indonesia, the most populous
Muslim nation in the world, Ascension
Day is a national holiday along with
Christmas and Easter.
So why is Ascension Day important? The simple answer is that without it, Christmas and Easter would be
relatively meaningless. It’s wonderful
that Jesus came as a baby in a manger.
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