"With the incarnation, the ministry of Jesus on earth began; with the ascension, the ministry of Jesus from heaven began, the same Lord and the same ministry, yet different in manner, because it is now in the agency and power of the Holy Spirit. Descent and ascent run parallel to one another, completing the loop, as it were, of our Lord's life and ministry. The first means Jesus' ministry on earth, in his flesh as we know it.

Granger Westberg wrote a little book entitled Good Grief which identified the stages of grief through which we must travel. After the initial shock there is our emotional expression of our loss. We feel depressed and alone. We may get sick and become panicky. We feel a sense of guilt, and anger. We struggle with returning to normal activities. Only gradually does hope comes through and we can affirm the new reality of our lives.

There are ten accounts in the Gospels and 1 Corinthians of appearances of the risen Jesus during the forty days between the resurrection and the ascension. When Jesus came to the disciples on the first Sunday, he showed them his hands and his side to prove that he was the crucified and risen Lord. He commissioned them to carry on his work: "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." He gave them the life-giving power of the Spirit and the authority to proclaim the gospel of forgiveness.

It is arguable that before the coming of Jesus, apart from the revelation of God's steadfast love in the Old Testament, there was faint hope of the love of God. Apart from the Bible and the influence of Jesus Christ there is little thought of the love of God in the world. It is Christ who has brought us the depth of this conviction through his death on the Cross.