"God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet" (Ps. 47:5).
I chose this verse of Psalm 47 for two reasons: today is the forty-seventh day of Easter, and we are still celebrating Christ's Ascension into Heaven on the fortieth day.
There are forty-nine Easter Days (seven sevens), and so Saturday will be the last. But as I told my people last evening, Easter doesn't really end. It just turns into Pentecost. Pentecost marks the "birthday" of the Church. The word itself means "fiftieth," because Pentecost and its season follow the forty-nine days of Easter.
Who remembers Advent, the first season of the Church Year, way back in December? Advent never really ended. It just turned into Christmas. Christmas, too, never really ended. It just turned into Epiphany. And Epiphany into Lent. And Lent into Easter.
Soon Easter will turn into Pentecost. And the seven words of Easter (Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!) will turn into the seven words of Pentecost, to be announced this Sunday!
Until then, Christ is risen!
