Our chaplaincies marked Ascension Day across our diocese. Here we share three different celebrations from Stuttgart in Germany, Gers in France and in Norway, all of which included local mountains.

St Catherine’s Stuttgart held an Ascension day hike. 

“great conversation, wonderful sunshine, a nice mix of people and a chance to go beyond the normal Sunday “hello… Good-bye” … but the walk was exhausting!”

These were some of the comments we had back after our chaplaincy hike to mark Ascension day. 
We set off from St. Catherine’s, to the sound of bells being rung for the Old Catholic Ascension Day Service. We climbed out of Stuttgart to Birkenkopf – a memorial constructed of the rubble cleared from Stuttgart after World War II. After lunch it was on through the woods, past the wild boar, to Schloss Solitude, ice creams and discussion on the lawn."

In Gers, France, the mountains of the Pyrenees overlooked their Ascension day celebrations are shared by their current Locum The Rev. David Houghton:

“The sleepy, sun drenched fields stirred at the rousing singing of ‘Hail the Day that sees Him Rise’. This was Ascension Day at Pallanne, a tiny village vaguely located in the Gers between Pau and Auch. A new dimension for understanding the mystery of the Ascension of The Lord Jesus is created when the day can be celebrated in the open air, with the snow capped Pyrenees in the background and a profound sense of wonder and Glory. Some 40 of all ages had made the journey from the Chaplaincy of Pau with Mazeres. We had the Marquee, music, dressed altar, delight at meeting each other.

The Gospel of Luke tells of the disciples witnessing the Ascension of Jesus, and then returning to Jerusalem in great joy, going back to carry out their work. I am sure that in our own way, we too experienced the joy of the Risen Lord and were inspired that beautiful day to share our joy as members of this wide flung community of faith.”

Revd Canon Joanna Udal describes the walk the chaplaincy of Norway took with Bishop Robert:

“Preikestolen was the highest point of Bishop Robert’s Ascensiontide visit to the Norway Chaplaincy.   Also known as Pulpit Rock, it towers 604m over the waters of Lysefjord down below and was the destination of a memorable pilgrimage hike involving members of both Stavanger and Oslo congregations.   It has become an ever more popular destination since Tom Cruise featured there in Mission Impossible 6, but an early start helped our intrepid pilgrims to beat the crowds.  On reaching the mountain plateau we recalled the mission Jesus entrusts to his disciples at the end of St Matthew’s Gospel, to go and make disciples of all nations, a mission already reflected in our pilgrim group from seven different countries and three continents.  The climb was demanding, but great conversations could happen along the way as we took in the glories of creation around us.”