Sunday after the Ascension
Call to
Worship
Jesus, Son of God, who was lifted
into heaven, we worship you with great joy. Jesus. Son of God, raised far above
all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is
named, not only in this age but also in the age to come, we worship you with
great joy. Jesus, Son of God, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion that
shall not pass away, and whose kingship is one that shall never be destroyed,
we worship you with great joy.
"The Ascension"
by Hans Suss von Kulmbach
(1476-1528)
Prayer
Almighty God,
as we prepare to worship today,
we ask that you will stretch our imaginations
to sense the majesty and mystery of your ascension.
Help us perceive how Jesus' presence in heaven
can give us confidence in our praying
and hope for the future.
Through Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
as we prepare to worship today,
we ask that you will stretch our imaginations
to sense the majesty and mystery of your ascension.
Help us perceive how Jesus' presence in heaven
can give us confidence in our praying
and hope for the future.
Through Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
Prayer of
Confession*
Gracious
God,
Forgive
us for so often failing
to
grasp the wonder of Ascension,
for
living each day as though it had never been.
Forgive
the smallness of our vision,
the
narrowness of our outlook,
the
weakness of our love,
the
nervousness of our witness,
our
repeated failure to recognize
the
fullness of your revelation in Christ.
Give
us a deeper sense of wonder,
a
stronger faith,
and a
greater understanding of all you have done.
Words of
Assurance*
Through his
Ascension
Jesus is now
set free to be Lord of all:
no longer
bound to a particular place or time,
but with us
always - able to reach even to the ends of the earth.
Amen
written by
Rev Bryce Calder, and posted on the Church of Scotland’s Starters for
Sunday. http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/5981/starters_05_06_11.
Bible
Reading Acts 1:1-11
In the first book,
Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the
beginning 2 until the day when he was
taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the
apostles whom he had chosen. 3 After his suffering he
presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them
during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 While
staying[a] with them, he ordered
them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father.
“This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; 5 for
John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit not
many days from now.”
 |
| The Ascension of Christ Gustave Dore (1832-1883) |
So when they had come
together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the
kingdom to Israel?” 7 He replied, “It is not for
you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own
authority. 8 But you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 When
he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him
out of their sight. 10 While he was going and
they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by
them. 11 They
said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus,
who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you
saw him go into heaven.”
We are familiar
with the forty days before Easter. We associate that period with Christ’s
temptation in the wilderness. We call it Lent. And then on Easter day, when we celebration the
resurrection of Christ, the
forty days of Lent become distant memory. But immediately
following Easter, there begins another period of forty days that we don’t
normally observe, or are even aware of. I’m referring here to the forty days
beginning with the resurrection of Christ and culminating in his Ascension to heaven. Unfortunately, because Ascension Day
always falls on a Thursday (when we count forty days from Easter Sunday, we end on a Thusday), it tends to drop off our radar. However, we have a second
chance at bring the ascension back into focus as today is, in liturgical terms,
‘the Sunday after the Ascension.’ So what can we learn from the Ascension?
The Ascension is directly related to
the sending of the Holy Spirit
Over the past few weeks, we saw that while Jesus told his disciples that he would
be ‘leaving’ him, he also assured them that the Holy Spirit would
come to them. This is a theme that he continued to teach after his
resurrection. In the forty days following the resurrection: “While staying with them, Jesus ordered them not to leave Jerusalem,
but to wait there for the promise of the Father” (v.4). This ‘promise of the Father’ is the promised Holy Spirit. Remember, Jesus had said to them earlier: “…I will ask the Father, and he will
give you another Advocate to be with you forever” (Jn 14:16). Jesus had to go for this
promise to become a reality which is why he said to them: “ …it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go
away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to
you.” (Jn 16:7).
In the teaching of Jesus, it is not
possible to separate the giving of the Holy Spirit from Jesus’ ascension into
heaven.
The Ascension challenges our
understanding of God
 |
| "Ascension" by Michael O'Brien |
Immediately before his ascension,
the disciples thought that something momentous was going to happen and so they ask: “Lord,
is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” (v.6b).
The disciples thought they had it all figured out: This was time! The kingdom which
Jesus had been teaching about (v.3c) was going to established! Their nationalistic
hopes for Israel would be realized at last. Rome would be overthrown and they
would be free! In other words, they thought they knew when it was going
to be (is this the time?), they thought they knew who would make
it happen (you will restore the kingdom), they thought they knew where
it was going to be (Israel).
However, while something momentous was
indeed going to happen, it was definitely not as the disciples thought. In fact,
Jesus’ response shows how off-track their thought process had been: He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or
periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But
you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be
my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth” (vs.7-8). Each part of his response was important.
Firstly, God’s timescale is very different from ours: “It
is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own
authority”. This is something that all of us struggle with at some point in
our lives. We like things to happen when we think they should happen, based on
our perception and our framework and timescale of how things should unfold in
our lives. It is worth noting that we cannot – and should not- attempt to fit
God into our timescales. His ways are marvellous and so too is his timing. We
are only call to trust and believe, and not try to work things out.
Secondly, the disciples believed the kingdom
would be established, and it would it be established by Jesus. Yes, Jesus had
preached the coming for the kingdom from the start of his ministry: “…Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news
of God, and
saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near, repent,
and believe in the good news.” (Mk 1:14b-15), he had taught his disciples to
pray for the coming of the kingdom “Your kingdom come. Your
will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt 6:10), and so it was only natural that the disciples
thought that Jesus would accomplish this during his earthly ministry.
But completely unexpected to the disciples, Jesus tells tham that the promised Holy Spirit whom he had told
them about was coming for them! “But you will receive power when the
Holy Spirit has come upon you” (v.7a). This Spirit would empower them! Further,
once this happens, they would become witness to the coming kingdom: “and you will be my witnesses” (v.7b). They thought that Jesus would bring about the Kingdom. Instead,
they heard that they would be empowered by the Holy Spirit to do precisely that
task. They would become witnesses to the Kingdom! A witness is one who testifies
to what he or she has seen. The testimony of a witness is vital to making a
strong case, but the witness provides a first hand account, bringing a reliable
and credible account to a situation. That was going to be the responsibility to
the disciples!
3.
The kingdom of God was not confined to Israel as they thought
(will you restore the kingdom to Israel?” (v.6b)). Rather, the Kingdom of
God of which they were to be witnesses, would be established “in Jerusalem,
in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (v.6c).
Jerusalem, yes, they would have not been surprised by that. But from Judea to
the ends of the earth? That was a shock for them. They were not expecting this.
Again, they limited the power of God by thinking that his rule
would extend only to Israel. Rather, his rule was to the ends of the earth. The Psalmist
reminds us that “The Lord is King! Let the earth rejoice” (Ps 96:1).
Our God is great big God – we reduce God to the smallness of our minds.
Thanks be to God
for the Ascension of Christ. Because of it, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit
and called to be witnesses!
Prayers of Intercession
We pray this day:
- For the church, that we may reveal God’s love through our words and actions.
- For those who face persecution on account of their faithful actions.
- For all those who are in need—families, refugees, immigrants, and others who seek a better life—may they find assistance from those who work for their betterment; may we hold them in our prayers.
- That the pandemic may be gotten under control and for those working to find a vaccine.
- For all who need healing at this time, especially from Covid19, that they may be filled with the hope and strength of the Holy Spirit
- For those on the frontlines who are giving of themselves so that others may be helped – doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, EMT, police officers, firefighter, grocers, truckers, hospital and building cleaners, teachers, child care workers, mental health professionals, and countless others. May they receive your protection as they serve.
- For the sick, especially those whose names are in our hearts, and their caregivers.
- For those who have died. May they celebrate everlasting life in Christ Jesus.
- For those who have lost loved ones to the coronavirus: May God console them and grant them peace.
God our Father, we come to you today, certain that you desire that we do so. We ask you to hear these prayers and all that we hold in the silence of our hearts. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Blessing*
As we begin a new week, may you remember that you have been empowered by the Holy Spirit and called to be witnesses to the Risen Christ.
God be with you and protect you.
And may the love of God,
the grace of Jesus Christ,
and the presence of the Holy Spirit
encourage and strengthen you as we go. AMEN.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.