Up With a Shout

Note: This post was originally published on May 22, 2026, but I accidently deleted it. This is a repost. - Jane

Christ is Ascended!

For some of the faithful, this lesser known greeting replaces the Pascha greeting: “Christ is Risen!” and its response, “Truly He is Risen” or “Indeed He is Risen.”

How does one respond to “Christ is Ascended!”?

I’ve heard various: “From Earth to Heaven!” or “He is Ascended Indeed!” and others. I’m not sure if I heard or read it, or imagined or dreamed it, but I myself have responded:

“With a shout!”

Below, you’ll find out why.

~~~~

In this post:

• Ascension musings

• “Come and See, 2” - an Ascension poem

• Video shorts: holy quotes with my harp music

Known as Eastertide in the West, the Forty days of Easter/Pascha close with His Ascension. Jesus had spent that time with the 11 Apostles, preparing them for their coming ministry of spreading the good news to the world. Now, at the Mount of Olives, He rises bodily into heaven, His earthly mission complete.

Can you imagine what that would be like?

I think of this verse from Psalm 46 (47):6

God ascended with a shout,
The Lord with the sound of the trumpet.

When I first heard that verse in relation to Christ’s Ascension, I wondered: Did Jesus give a shout as he ascended? I’m sure the onlookers did - I certainly would have!

Last year, after my morning prayers, as I mused on the Ascension, I seemed to see Christ everywhere. On the kitchen table, a trivet with a tree and fruit, seemed to express His words from the Gospel of John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches.” I spread out my cloth napkin and it became that which wiped His Holy Face.

And a ceramic tile our younger daughter had crafted in middle school seemed indeed to present Psalm 46(47):6

As it was, Christ in those 40 days, in his fully deified body, must at times have seemed now more earthly and now more divine - sometimes more here, sometimes more … where? What do you imagine He discussed with the Apostles? What did He show them? I think of the final verse in John’s Gospel:

And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen. - John 21:25

A poem I wrote last year, harkens to both here and there: back to the discovery of Christ’s empty tomb, and here, on the hilltop, gazing into Heaven.

God goes up with a shout!
And in the cry and His vanishing
we are astonished a second time:
The tomb indeed is empty,
earth and sky turned upside-down

Mystify me again, O Christ
You who are Risen and now Ascend -
Before our very eyes
you blossom
from here to
where?!?

I leap to my feet
with the others
we all cry out.
Take me with you!

For a moment
I am in the cave again,
and the absence wails
our grief and despair

But –
a word on the wind
and a hush in my heart -
a whisper, fierce and longing:
Transfigure my little life, O Lord

Christ above, below,
around and beside
to our left and right,
In a great cross and
a collective, trembling sigh,
Love has swept through like linen.
I topple, and the angels come

Wings, a ministry of motion,
the world’s tears and helpless joy,
a playful prayer, and then:
subsiding abiding
stillness

He is Risen, as He said.

And, in the fading light
I, somehow,
am too.

Amen.

Abbot Tryphon of All Merciful Saviour Monastery on Vashon Island, Washington, records video shorts of quotes by holy men and women. I am blessed to contribute music to some of them. Here are links to recent videos (click on the titles). May you find they be a blessing :

Later We Will Understand - “Remember, my beloved child, that all of the happenings of our life are part of the utterly unknown economy of God. …” - Saint Luke

Simplify - “Do not make your life complicated. It IS already wisely arranged. …” - Elder lliy (Nozdrin)

Always Gaze Upon God - “Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us: Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls (Matt. 11:29). ...” - Saint Dionysius of Kolitsou

Opportune Obedience - “You may depend upon it that you are sent just as many opportunities for obedience as you need, and the very kind that are most suitable for you. …” - Tito Colliander

The One Who Struggles - “The one who struggles always acts, but with the help of God. ...” - Father Jack Sparks

Joyful Spirit - “When despondency seizes us, let us not give in to it. We are made steadfast by the uprightness of His Cross. …” - Saint Seraphim of Sarov

Inner Peace - “Do not overlook the fact that health does not depend on food alone, but above all on inner peace. …” - Saint Theophan the Recluse

(Scottish Gaelic: A Blessing Upon You)