Focus Statement Then Jesus led the disciples out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God. Luke 24:50-53 Gathering Call to worship Ascending like sweet incense of death raised to life raised to glory Lifting like seeds set free strewn and scattered sprouting Gospel in wild abandon Rising like birds taking wing catching currents of mystery and hope Vaughan, Joanna. Ascension,. From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56521 [retrieved May 23, 2020]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/joannavaughanphotography/1909248290/. Used by permission Prayer Ascending Christ, The aching beauty of your rising is sweet desire filling us for you, incessant longing drawing us to you, outrageous hope transforming us in you. Amen. Song For the beauty of the earth HWB 89 “Wait for the promise” Acts 1:1-5 In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over the course of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying 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; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ Stay © Jan Richardson. janrichardson.com. From The Painted Prayerbook I know how your mind rushes ahead, trying to fathom what could follow this. What will you do, where will you go, how will you live? You will want to outrun the grief. You will want to keep turning toward the horizon, watching for what was lost to come back, to return to you and never leave again. For now, hear me when I say all you need to do is to still yourself, is to turn toward one another, is to stay. Wait and see what comes to fill the gaping hole in your chest. Wait with your hands open to receive what could never come except to what is empty and hollow. You cannot know it now, cannot even imagine what lies ahead, but I tell you the day is coming when breath will fill your lungs as it never has before, and with your own ears you will hear words coming to you new and startling. You will dream dreams and you will see the world ablaze with blessing. Wait for it. Still yourself. Stay. Musical Reflection First Movement, Sonata #2, Handel “Is this the time?” Acts 1:6-9 So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ 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.’ When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. Children’s Story Martyrs of Uganda, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56886 [retrieved May 23, 2020]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/5710252358. Used by permission Song View the present STS 108 “As they were watching, he was lifted up” Ascension and the Church Darrell Johnson, “The Work of the People” Listen to Regent College Professor Darrell Johnson’s reflections on the meaning of Jesus’ ascension for the church. Song Alleluia! Gracious Jesus! STS 110 This familiar tune, often heard in Advent as Jesus comes to earth as a baby, is also used in this Ascension hymn as Jesus ascends from earth as the Resurrected Christ. “They were gazing up toward heaven” Acts 1:10-14 While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards 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.’ Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers. JESUS MAFA. The Ascension, Cameroon. From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48398 [retrieved May 23, 2020]. Original source: http://www.librairie- emmanuel.fr (contact page:https://www.librairie-emma nuel.fr/contact). Used by permission. Ascension by Malcolm Guite, from his website We saw his light break through the cloud of glory Whilst we were rooted still in time and place As earth became a part of Heaven’s story And heaven opened to his human face. We saw him go and yet we were not parted He took us with him to the heart of things The heart that broke for all the broken-hearted Is whole and Heaven-centred now, and sings, Sings in the strength that rises out of weakness, Sings through the clouds that veil him from our sight, Whilst we our selves become his clouds of witness And sing the waning darkness into light, His light in us, and ours in him concealed, Which all creation waits to see revealed . Offering Prayer We offer to you, O Christ, our energies and passions, our time and resources that in this broken-hearted world of veiling clouds we may bear witness to your love, beauty, and glory. Amen. Offertory Blessed Assurance “Lift up a song to the One who rides upon the clouds” Psalm 68:4-6, 32-35 Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to the One who rides upon the clouds-- whose name is the Lord-- be exultant before him. Father of orphans and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God gives the desolate a home to live in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious live in a parched land. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth; sing praises to the Lord, O rider in the heavens, the ancient heavens; listen, God sends out his voice, his mighty voice. Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel; and whose power is in the skies. Awesome is God in the holy sanctuary, the God of Israel, giving power and strength to God’s people. Ascension, Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain. From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville,TN . http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56522 [retrieved May 23, 2020]. Used by permission Walter Brueggemann on Psalm 68 from The Collected Sermons of Walter Brueggemann, Volume 1 "It turns out that the one who has ascended into power is not transcendent in remoteness, is not splendid in indifference, but is deeply in touch with the reality of the earth where money and power and social leverage and differentiation of gender, race, and class leave some dangerously exposed. This father-God to whom we pray “our father” rides the clouds not as a joy-rider, but rather to be in a position to see and to know and to care and to intervene and to feed and to heal and to forgive and to reconcile and to liberate. It turns out that ascension, whereby God is celebrated in power, is a claim that the earth is ordered differently because of the one who governs it." Affirmation of Faith: Litany for Ascension Day by Christine Sine, from Godspace Because Jesus ascended and sits at the right hand of God, a new world has broken into ours – a world in which justice does come for the poor, freedom comes for the prisoners, and healing for the sick. Because Jesus ascended and sits at the right hand of God, a new community has been formed – a community that loves and cares for all members, a family that welcomes all who are abandoned and rejected, a place where all find a place of belonging. Because Jesus ascended and sits at the right hand of God, a new creation has begun – all that was distorted is being restored, all that is corrupted is being renewed, all that was broken is being made whole. Because Jesus ascended and sits at the right hand of God, God’s new world has begun. Ascension, Church of Elthedreda, London, England. From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56525. [retrieved May 24, 2020]. Used by permission. Sending Song Holy Spirit, come with power HWB 26 Benediction The Resurrected Christ ascends and absence cracks the confines of our lives calling us to become what he was. The Risen Christ is lifted up and we are left to live and love and long for all that is and is to come. The Exalted Christ rises and our hopes, our dreams, our prayers ascend pouring back upon us in wind and flame and power. Go in the glory of the Ascended Christ. Ascension, mural on a graffiti wall in Bristol, England. From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54351 [retrieved May 23, 2020]. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skip/111045024/ . Used by permission Stay by Jan Richardson, from The Painted Prayerbook I know how your mind rushes ahead, trying to fathom what could follow this. What will you do, where will you go, how will you live? You will want to outrun the grief. You will want to keep turning toward the horizon, watching for what was lost to come back, to return to you and never leave again. For now, hear me when I say all you need to do is to still yourself, is to turn toward one another, is to stay. Wait and see what comes to fill the gaping hole in your chest. Wait with your hands open to receive what could never come except to what is empty and hollow. You cannot know it now, cannot even imagine what lies ahead, but I tell you the day is coming when breath will fill your lungs as it never has before, and with your own ears you will hear words coming to you new and startling. You will dream dreams and you will see the world ablaze with blessing. Wait for it. Still yourself. Stay. Musical Reflection First Movement, Sonata #2, Handel “Is this the time?” Acts 1:6-9 So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ 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.’ When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. Children's Story Song View the present STS 108 “As they were watching, he was lifted up” Ascension and the Church Darrell Johnson, “The Work of the People” Listen to Regent College Professor Darrell Johnson’s reflections on the meaning of Jesus’ ascension for the church. Song Alleluia! Gracious Jesus! STS 110 This familiar tune, often heard in Advent as Jesus comes to earth as a baby, is also used in this Ascension hymn as Jesus ascends from earth as the Resurrected Christ. You’ll find the words to this Ascension hymn below the video. |