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Friends, it’s Ascension Sunday! I know, I’ll try not to keep you too long, so you can get to your Ascension Sunday parties after this. Yeah, we have this very bad habit in Christianity of making a very big deal out of just two of our holidays–Christmas and Easter–and generally ignoring the rest of them, to the extent that some of our beloveds only come to church twice a year. By now, y’all have learned that Pastor Natalie doesn’t ignore our other holidays, the ones we hardly talk about are my favorites! And Easter is a whole season, not one day, and today is the conclusion of that Easter season. The season began with Jesus’ resurrection, and Mary Magdalene proclaiming the Good News of the Risen Christ, and it ends here, with Jesus summoning his eleven surviving disciples together one last time, to give them some parting wisdom before going on to heaven. Luke tells us that, in those final moments that Jesus was with his disciples in person, he finally gave them everything they’ve ...