Ascension, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday

Written By Ben Lansing

As Eastertide draws to a close we look towards significant days in our church calendar: Ascension Day, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday. Each of these days are invitations to remember and enter more deeply into the story of Christ and the life of his Church.

The following devotionals have been prepared for meditating on Christ’s reign, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the mystery of a Triune God, written and illustrated by one of our deacons, Ben Lansing.

 
Download Printable Devotionals Here
Download Printable Devotionals Here
 
 
 

ASCENSION DAY
May 14, 2026 (Forty Days after Easter)

“So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.” — Mark 16:19

“I am with you always” — Jesus (John 20:27)

Forty days after Easter Day, the church observes Ascension Day, recognizing the astonishing moment when the resurrected Jesus ascended, body and soul, into heaven. After his resurrection, Jesus didn’t fade away like a ghost after a single, dramatic appearance; no, he remained with his disciples for an astonishing forty days. Over these five and a half weeks, over five hundred people witnessed the resurrected Christ. Jesus’ death had been publicly confirmed and now he was publicly confirmed as alive. This was no magic trick or religious illusion. It would be impossible to maintain such an elaborate deception for even a day, much less forty days. The resurrected Messiah fellowshipped with his disciples, took walks with them, taught them, and ministered to them during this period. He even cooked for them and ate with them. There was no denying that Jesus truly had been raised from the dead. He was alive. For decades after, the hundreds of stories of the resurrection witnesses were cross-examined and investigated by skeptics and proven true time and time again and the gospel spread with new generations of converts, convinced that Jesus Christ was the living God.

At the culmination of these forty days, Jesus lifted up his hands and blessed his disciples and was suddenly “taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” (Acts 1:9) Yet Jesus had not abandoned his disciples. “I am with you always,” Jesus said in his Great Commission (Matthew 28:20). And so he is. Jesus is the true vine (John 15:1) and all who are in Christ are grafted into him (Romans 11:17). He is still present in his body and his blood, giving us life and love, wisdom and truth. He is interceding for us now before the Father (Hebrews 7:25), giving us a seat with him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). He continues to minister to us today, through his Spirit, as we await his coming again in glory and power at the very end of the age.

Practice
Take an Ascension Hike. Hike up a hillside or climb a mountain the week of Ascension Day in imitation of the Lord’s journey up the Mount of Olives on the way to his ascension.

Prayer for Ascension Day
Almighty God, whose only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven: May our hearts and minds also there ascend, and with him continually dwell; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 
 
 

Pentecost
May 24, 2026 (Fifty Days after Easter)

“He will teach you all things.” — John 14:26

“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” — Acts 2:1-4

After his resurrection, Jesus gave his disciples the Great Commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20) The good news of Jesus’ resurrection was intended for the entire world, and the disciples would be the ones to share it. But before they went, Jesus commanded them to wait. “Stay in the city,” Jesus said, “until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49) “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

After Christ’s ascension into heaven, his disciples returned to the Temple in Jerusalem and worshipped God continually. As observant Jews, they believed that their Messiah had truly come and defeated sin and death through the power of his resurrection. But what next? Ten days later, when the Jewish feast of Shavuot arrived, the disciples met together in Jerusalem for the festival. Shavuot, called “Pentecost” by Greek-speaking Jews, because it fell fifty days after Passover, was a festival of first fruits, when God was given an offering from the land’s early produce. Ancient Jewish tradition connected this feast with the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai. But soon, Pentecost would take on the meaning of a new gift from God.

The book of Acts tells us that when the disciples were all together in one place, the sound of a rushing wind filled the room and the Holy Spirit fell upon everyone, manifesting himself in flames of fire. The disciples began speaking in the languages of the Gentile nations and they were enabled to fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission. Centuries earlier, the prophet Joel foretold, “God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” (Joel 2:28) Now, in the presence of all, these promises were fulfilled. The disciples were once a scattered group, without direction. Now, through the Spirit, they were empowered for mission. Because of this, Pentecost is the birthday of the church.

On Pentecost Sunday, the church commemorates this great day of the Holy Spirit with red liturgical colors. Congregants are encouraged to wear red to church on Pentecost as a visible reminder that, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the church is now “clothed with power from on high.”

Practice
On Pentecost Sunday, be sure to wear red as a visual reminder of the descent of the Holy Spirit, manifested in tongues of fire.

Prayer for Pentecost
Almighty God, on this day, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, you revealed the way of eternal life to every race and nation: Pour out this gift anew, that by the preaching of the gospel your salvation may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 
 
 

TRINITY SUNDAY
May 31, 2026 (The Sunday after Pentecost)

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” — Matthew 28:19

“We worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in unity, neither confounding the person nor dividing the substance. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit. But the godhead of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is all one… The Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy spirit is God, and yet they are not three gods, but one God.” — From the Athanasian Creed

On the Sunday after Pentecost, the church turns its attention to the mysteries of the Trinity. In both the Old and New Testaments, God reveals that he is One God in three persons, and throughout Scripture we are given insights into the eternal relationship of love within the Godhead. Christians since the 1st century have marveled at this intricate revelation and have carefully defined what Scripture says about this loving God we worship. The word “Trinity” does not appear in the Bible, but the identity of God that this word represents is found throughout Scripture. We have seen these Biblical, Trinitarian descriptions featured throughout the liturgical feasts. On Epiphany Sunday, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit manifested at Jesus’ baptism, where God the Father proclaimed “this is my beloved Son” as the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus. On Ascension Day, we heard Jesus tell his disciples to “go into all of the world, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” In the Nicene Creed, the word “Trinity” is used to describe God’s revelation of himself and, later, the much longer Athanasian Creed was written to elaborate on the truths defined by the Nicene Creed. In many churches, the Athanasian Creed is read or sung in the Trinity Sunday liturgy as an act of praise and recognition of the profound and glorious nature of the God we serve.

Practice
Take several minutes to read through the Athanasian Creed, one of Christianity’s most detailed statements of Trinitarian doctrine (you can find it in the Book of Common Prayer 2019 edition on pg. 769). Named after the African theologian Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296-373), this creed’s complexity points to the fathomless, infinite, incomprehensible holiness of our loving God who is simultaneously the author and origin of humility and simplicity.

Prayer for Trinity Sunday
Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 
 

Additional Resources

Ben Lansing
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Celebrating the Ordination of Will Clark