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Worship
Service for May 21, 2023
Prelude
Announcements: Next Sunday is Pentecost Sunday
Call to Worship
L: We have proclaimed excited Alleluias
because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
P: We praise You, ascended Lord, for
defeating death and rising to life.
L: As we near the end of the Easter season,
we remember that every Sunday is a little Easter.
P: Every Sunday is a celebration of Christ’s
victory that is our victory.
L: Today we rejoice over the resurrection,
P: worshipping in the name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen and Alleluia!
Opening
Hymn – All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name Hymn #142/43
Prayer of Confession
High Priest who is the Alpha
and Omega, You have washed us clean in the baptism that joins us to Your death
and resurrection, yet we continue to sin.
We try to benefit ourselves at the expense of others. We worry more about making money than about
doing Your will. We fail to proclaim
Your righteousness. We take Easter for
granted. We make light of Your ascended
reign from heaven. We are divided from
You and one another. Come, Lord
Jesus! Forgive us again. In Your eternal name we pray. (Silent prayers are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: The Lord is King! Let the earth rejoice! In the name of the Ascended Christ, God
rescues us from the hand of eternal sorrow by forgiving us our sins.
P: Light dawns for us. The bright morning star shines upon us. Through Christ, we are free to be one as the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one.
Alleluia!
Gloria Patri
Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’
Creed
I believe in God the Father
Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the
third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on
the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge
the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost,
the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the
resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN
Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s
Prayer
Good and gracious God, we adore you and praise
your holy name. We are especially
grateful for your steadfast love, revealed to us in the words and deeds of
Jesus, your Son. We give thanks for the
disciples and all the generations that have followed in their footsteps,
faithfully carrying out the mission entrusted to them by Christ. It is our turn, Lord, to take that mission,
to make it our own and spread your name, your love, your mercy and grace to
every corner of the world. To do that,
we need to start here at home. Unite us
in our commitment to Christ. Give us the
courage to venture beyond familiar places, to see in unfamiliar faces potential
friends and neighbors. Transform our
hearts and minds so that we may be instruments of healing, comfort, and peace
every day and everywhere that you may lead us.
This morning, Lord, we
lift up to you the names of those that we hold dear to us….
Hear our hearts, O Lord, in these moments of silence as we also lift
up to you our own selves.
Lord, may your empowering Spirit be present with all those who are in
any need this morning as we unite in prayer together saying….Our Father who art in
heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy
kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. AMEN.
Hymn – Our God, Our Help in
Ages Past Hymn #210/686
5
vs. in Blue Hymnal
Scripture Reading(s):
Isaiah
45:1-7
Acts
1:6-14
Sermon –
Ascension Sunday
(based on Acts 1:6-14)
So, how many of you received or sent
out Christmas Cards this past Christmas?
Ok, most of you, if not all of you.
And how many of you received or sent out Easter Cards? A few less.
But, the important question for this morning is how many of you received
or sent out Ascension Day cards? Why
not?
Well, according to a number of
Biblical Scholars and Theologians, today, Ascension Sunday, is one of the most
important Christian holidays of the year.
Having completed his earthly ministry
and work, today we celebrate Christ’s Ascension to heaven. It is a significant event, maybe in some ways
far more significant than most people give it credit for.
In our culture, we
have a tradition of honoring the birth of people. We celebrate birthdays. When there is someone important, we make note
of their birthdate. Sometimes we even
make national holidays out of the birthday of famous people, like presidents
and so forth. At the risk of seeming a
little bit odd, I’d like to suggest a different approach, that we begin to
celebrate the death day of significant people, which marks the culmination of
their achievement. At their birth,
nothing was yet accomplished, nor could anything be determined as to what the
future might hold. We might not be sure
that they would amount to anything, but when it was over then we could look
back and see their real value.
The only person who
ever lived whose accomplishments were written before he was born was Jesus
Christ. And so while it makes sense to
celebrate his birthday because it was already written what he would accomplish,
it also makes equal sense to celebrate his ascension, which ended his earthly
journey. And again, I suggest that the
ascension of Christ doesn’t get anywhere near the attention that it should. We celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus
Christ because of what we know he accomplished, though it was still future when
he was born. And sometimes that
celebration of his birth gets a little bit filled with sentimental things about
a baby in a manger and Joseph and Mary and shepherds and wise men, and for many
people they never get much beyond that.
If on the other hand
we were to celebrate the end of his life on earth, if we were to have a
celebration and a great holiday marking the ascension of Christ, then we would
really remove all the sentimentalism and we would be left to celebrate all of
Christ’s achievements. That kind of celebration
might be the greatest of all celebrations because when Jesus ascended into
heaven, it was heaven’s affirmation that he had accomplished everything he had
come to do. EVERYTHING! Christ’s work was done. When you think about it, that, in and of
itself is a pretty remarkable statement: Christ’s work was done.
In the gospel
according to Luke, it began with Christ’s arrival on earth, and Luke ends with
his departure. In Luke 24:50-52, “Then
he led them 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 worshipped him and returned to
Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing
God.”
The story of Jesus began in heaven when he
left it and came to earth, and it ends when he leaves earth to return to
heaven. The story began with
condescension and ends with ascension, began with incarnation and ends with
exaltation, began with expectation and ends with consummation. It began with the Son of God being born of a
virgin, descending to earth, and it ends with the Son of God being born from
the dead ascending to heaven. The story
began with hope unrealized and ends with hope fully realized. It began with a promise and ends with a
fulfillment and even a new promise. The
story began with praise and worship, and it ends the very same way because it
began with the praise of Mary and Zacharias and Simeon and Anna all praising
God in anticipation of the coming of a Messiah. It began with the praise of angels in the
field full of sheep and shepherds. It
began with the wonder of the wisemen staring up into the heavens. The story even began in the temple when the
baby Jesus was taken to the temple, and there being offered for dedication in
the Jewish custom, being taken up into the arms of Simeon who offered praise to
God. And then there was Anna who was
always in the temple praising God. And
so it began with praise and ends with praise with the disciples worshiping
Christ and praising God. It began in the
temple and ends in the temple. In the
story about Christ, we have come from the beginning to the end, and in between
is all the incomparable magisterial history of his life; his teaching, his
miracles, his rejection, his death and his resurrection, a history written
majestically by all the gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Luke, however, tells of Christ’s
ascension twice. First, he ends his
gospel with it, then he begins the story of Acts with it, as well. Acts is the next volume of the history of the
church. It is what happens next – the
story of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the fulfillment of the Great
Commission in the acts of the apostles as they establish a new movement. Between the two accounts, it is the
culminating end of one history and is the inaugural beginning of another. That should be more than enough to make it
one of the most significant events in our Christian heritage and should warrant
a much more celebratory event.
In many ways today
marks the coronation of the King, not just any old king like King Charles of
England, but the eternal King of Heaven.
Because today we celebrate Jesus ascending into heaven to sit on this
heavenly throne. His work on earth
complete, his work on the Throne of Heaven to begin. And if today is the Coronation day of the King
of Heaven, don’t you think that deserves some recognition?
40 days after his
resurrection, he spent time with his followers in his heavenly form. 40 days after his resurrection, he continued
to teach them the last few things he needed them to know. He ate with them, reconciled with some of
them like Peter, and advanced the message of the gospel. As recorded in Luke, he told that that
everything written about him in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms
had to be fulfilled. He then opened up
their minds so that they would fully understand the scriptures and told them
that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all
nations, beginning from Jerusalem. And finally,
he promised to send them the Holy Spirit – the advocate, the guide, God in
Spirit form who could speak to our spirits and help us.
After this was
complete, he led them out of the city to the place called Bethany. Bethany was a special place to Jesus. It was just over the hill from Jerusalem,
beyond the Mount of Olives. Out the
eastern gate of Jerusalem, over the edge of the Mount of Olives, Jesus held a
lot of memories of Bethany. His close
friends – Mary, Martha, and Lazarus lived there, he often went into the Mount
of Olives to pray. So, to this restful
place, a place filled with wonderful memories, just outside Jerusalem, he led
his disciples for the last time. And
there he blessed them. He poured out his
love and his care to them. He
strengthened them for the days ahead and sanctioned their work. Because his work was now complete. It was now their turn to carry out his
message, to continue his work, to be his hands and feet on earth, to further
the message of the gospel, to take it to the ends of the earth, to proclaim
forgiveness of sins and reconciliation towards peace.
Perhaps the reason why
we don’t celebrate this day more fully is because we are hesitant to truly take
up our responsibility Jesus gave us that day.
Perhaps we are hesitant to be Christ’s hands and feet on earth. Perhaps we don’t really want that kind of
blessing, to further the gospel, to take it to the ends of the earth when we
have a hard enough time taking it to the person across the street or down the
road, to a co-worker or even to a friend.
Perhaps we don’t want to be so eager to forgive sins and to be
reconciled to those who have harmed us or shunned us. Who really wants that kind of responsibility? Perhaps that is why we don’t celebrate this
day very much.
But as he ascended to
heaven, Jesus knew that he had done all that he could, that his work was complete. As he ascended to the throne of heaven, he
knew that his followers, with the help of the Holy Spirit, would continue his
work.
As we come next Sunday
to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, are you ready to recommit
yourselves to the responsibility Christ gave us when he gave his blessing on
his Coronation Day? To make known the
gospel, to make disciples of all nations, to forgive sins and to work toward
the reconciliation of the world back to God.
May you receive Christ’s
blessing on this Ascension Day with joy and gladness. Thanks be to God! AMEN.
Offertory –
Doxology –
Prayer of Dedication –
We
give you thanks, O God, for the blessings of this life; for family and friends,
for work and play, for health and healing, for the good that we receive and
that we also give. We praise your holy
name not only with our lips, but by returning to you a portion of the gifts
that you have so generously bestowed on us, asking you to use them to build up
the body of Christ here and to the ends of the earth. AMEN.
Closing Hymn – Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise Hymn #263/33
Benediction –
Lord of love and light, You have called us to this place
and we have celebrated your ascension to the throne of heaven. Now send us on our way in joyful service and
peace in Your world to continue Your work among us. AMEN
Postlude
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