Although Ascension Day is traditionally always a Thursday in the Christian calendar, this year, at St Christopher’s Cathedral here in Bahrain, we decided to move our service to a Friday, in the hope that more people would be able to attend. This seems to have paid off, as on Friday 22 May there was a wonderful gathering, from across all our congregations, in the desert, out towards the ‘Tree of Life’.

As it was Rev. Alan, I believe, who had started this tradition of celebrating Ascension Day with an act of worship accompanied by kite-flying in the desert, it was surely a great and fitting tribute to him and the popularity of this event, to have such a good crowd at his last such service with us, just one week prior to his departure.

As people arrived, congregated and chatted, kites emerged and were flown with great enthusiasm (but with varying degrees of success!). Chris Young and Linda Simpson were the stars of the show (although Linda’s kite broke free much later on and disappeared in the distance hotly pursued by a group of the children!). Oliver Ramsden won the award for perseverance for his valiant attempts to untangle a huge knot of string!

Although the service was short, it was greatly enhanced by the setting, and the backdrop of kites was a great visual aid, both of which added to the message. The arrival of a cooling breeze (just in time, on what had been a very hot afternoon) made the location just perfect.

Everyone busied themselves with setting-up camp in a large circle and organizing food as the sun began to set and the BBQ was lit. Many thanks, as ever, to Paul (Hamilton) for putting up the location signs and organizing the BBQ grill, despite having been up very early that day to compete in a Triathlon!

As the sky darkened, a beautiful starlit night sky revealed itself. We all enjoyed the peaceful, relaxing setting as both adults and children shared food, fun and fellowship together. We were all very reluctant to make the first move and start packing to go home after another memorable (St. Christopher’s style) Ascension Day service in the desert.

Long may the tradition continue!
Stephanie Hanson