At Home Worship
First Presbyterian Churches of
Paris and Deport, Texas
ASCENSION EASTER
May 24, 2020
GREETINGS
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
And also
with you.
Trusting in the word of life given in baptism, we
are gathered in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen
OPENING
SENTENCES Ps.
118:24
This is the
day that the Lord has made;
let us
rejoice and be glad in it.
CALL TO
WORSHIP
In awe and wonder, we lift our eyes to the heavens.
We raise our songs of joy to the Ruler of all time
and space.
Sing praises to God, sing praises;
Shout to God with loud songs of joy.
We gather to remember the One who shared our common
lot.
Jesus Christ, who visited earth, dwells in heaven.
We celebrate the life and ministry of
Jesus.
We rejoice in the hope to which Christ
has called us.
We open ourselves to baptism with the Holy Spirit.
We expect to be empowered as witnesses in today’s
world.
We seek a spirit of wisdom and
revelation.
We are here to be filled with power
from on high.
LET US PRAY
As Christ
ascended to heaven, our spirits are lifted to you this day, O God. Your Spirit
fills the entire universe. We dwell within your embrace and cannot escape from
your watchful care. You are with us here, choosing us as apostles and
instructing us in the way we should go. Focus our limited understanding on the
person of Jesus, that all he did and taught might come alive in us during this
hour. Grant to us convincing proof of your promises as we welcome your winds of
change in our lives.
Amen
On this day
of mystery and wonder, we reflect on our record as an Easter people. Is there
evidence that Christ is alive within us and among us? Is the work of the Spirit
obvious to any who observe our words and deeds? Let us admit how things are
with us, as we seek God’s forgiveness.
PRAYER OF
CONFESSION
Hear us,
God, our hope, for we have too easily denied our heritage amid the competing
claims all around us. We declare ownership of what is only lent to us for a
time. We strive for knowledge and control beyond our capacity, wanting power on
our own terms rather than through the unpredictable empowerment of you Spirit.
Sometimes we stand on tiptoe to view what is out of sight, then arrogantly
conclude that there is nothing to see. O God, open our eyes and our hearts that
we might be forgiven and find true life in you.
Amen
ASSURANCE OF
FORGIVENESS
Repentance
and forgiveness of sin are proclaimed to all people in the name of Jesus
Christ. Forgiveness is God’s gift to us, one we can never earn but are welcome
to accept. When we agree to God’s freeing offer, we are also agreeing to let
God’s’ love change us. We are blessed by this opportunity for newness of life.
GLORIA PATRI
Glory to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is
now, and will be forever. Amen. Amen. Amen. THE WORD
PRAYER OF
ILLUMINATION
Let us pray:
God of all
times and places, whose promise of the Holy Spirit is for us as well as for
generations past, let your blessings fall on us while we are together, clothing
us with the resources to be you witness through the church, Christ’s body. May
the glorious inheritance that is ours be shared that our communities may be
enlightened and transformed.
Amen.
LISTEN FOR
THE WORD OF THE LORD
Acts 1:1-11
1:1 In the first book, Theophilus, I
wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning
1:2 until the day when he was taken up to
heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom
he had chosen.
1:3 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.
1:4 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;
1:5 for John baptized with water, but you will
be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
1:6 So when they had come together, they asked
him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to
Israel?"
1:7 He replied, "It is not for you to
know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.
1:8 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."
1:9 When he had said this, as they were
watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
1:10 While he was going and they were gazing
up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them.
1:11 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."
This is the
word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Psalm 93
93:1 The LORD is king, he is robed in majesty;
the LORD is robed, he is girded with strength. He has established the world; it
shall never be moved;
93:2 your throne is established from of old;
you are from everlasting.
93:3 The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the
floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring.
93:4 More majestic than the thunders of mighty
waters, more majestic than the waves of the sea, majestic on high is the LORD!
93:5 Your decrees are very sure; holiness
befits your house, O LORD, forevermore.
Ephesians 1:15-23
1:15 I have heard of your faith in the Lord
Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason
1:16 I do not cease to give thanks for you as
I remember you in my prayers.
1:17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as
you come to know him,
1:18 so that, with the eyes of your heart
enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are
the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints,
1:19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of
his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.
1:20 God put this power to work in Christ when
he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly
places,
1:21 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.
1:22 And he has put all things under his feet
and has made him the head over all things for the church,
1:23 which is his body, the fullness of him
who fills all in all.
The word of
the Lord. Thanks be to God.
The Gospel
of our Lord Jesus according to Luke (24: 44-53)
24:44 Then he said to them, "These are my
words that I spoke to you while I was still with you--that everything written
about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be
fulfilled."
24:45 Then he opened their minds to understand
the scriptures,
24:46 and he said to them, "Thus it is
written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third
day,
24:47 and that repentance and forgiveness of
sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
24:48 You are witnesses of these things.
24:49 And see, I am sending upon you what my
Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with
power from on high."
24:50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany,
and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them.
24:51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew
from them and was carried up into heaven.
24:52 And they worshiped him, and returned to
Jerusalem with great joy;
24:53 and they were continually in the temple
blessing God.
The Gospel
of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.
A Reflection on
the Ascension from Jane Els:
Jesus
just seems to come and go a LOT, doesn't he? After he is crucified on a
cross and buried in a tomb he disappears then reappears alive and spends the
next 40 days with his friends teaching and giving them some final instructions
(in case they didn't get it the first time, which I'm not sure they really
did). Then he goes up to a mountain and tells them he'll be back and just
rises up into the air. He doesn't even say WHEN he'll be back. And
he's gone again. And they are left standing there.
And I
think now we here in North Texas we understand how the disciples felt.
Don't
we get it now? If we were ever to understand the concept of “physical absence”…
how the disciples felt at Jesus floating away into the clouds and leaving them,
surely we understand it now! Haven't each one of us missed the physical
presence of a loved one in the last two months? Somebody that we miss
hugging? A particularly precious friend here at church that we're used to
seeing every single Sunday for the last several years and now since the middle
of March we've had to keep six feet of distance between us if we've even been
allowed to be around them at all. Do we get it now? Physical
distance is a thing that maybe we didn't fully understand before, but, boy, we
do now!
Maybe
before we didn't fully grasp that Jesus was a human being, a friend, a man that
these disciples lived with and loved. They camped out with him, he built
fires with and cooked fish for them; and ate together with them. He shared
bread with them. He washed their feet. He touched them, over and
over. And now he had left them. Don't we get it now? Surely
now we understand how vacant life is without being able to touch the people we
love. Surely now we understand how they felt standing there watching him
float up into the sky in a way we didn’t understand before.
Let
us say that 2020 was the year we came to understand the Ascension.
SERMON
What now? Armel
Crocker CP
So what do we do now? Do we sit around and wait
for something to happen or do we go and do something? Hanging out and waiting
for something to happen is the misguided view of some disciples in Luke’s
account of the ascension which we heard in today’s reading, “Lord, are you at
this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6) They had a
mistaken view of Jesus and his mission. The Roman Empire spread east and
conquered Palestine in 63 BC and these disciples mistakenly thought Jesus would
do something to drive out the Romans and restore self-rule to Israel. But that
was not Jesus’ mission.
In the Old Covenant the Chosen People were
called by God from their slavery in Egypt, led through the sea during the
exodus, and led into the Promised Land of Canaan. But everything changes in the
New Testament.
The inheritance is not the physical land of
Israel. Now the inheritance is heaven; the journey from slavery in Egypt is now
a journey from sin crossing through the sea of baptism.
Now in the New Covenant the journey is from sin
to heaven. Land is not part of the New Covenant. The inheritance in the New
Covenant is heaven but these disciples mentioned by Luke in our reading did not
yet understand the huge change from the Old to the New Covenant.
After Jesus’ ascension what are we to do? Do we
sit around and wait for something to happen or do we go and do something? How
did Jesus respond to the question of the disciples in today’s reading about
restoring the kingdom to Israel? He said,
“It is not for you to know the times or seasons
that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive
power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts
1:7-8)
We are not to sit around and wait, we are to do
something, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea
and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) Clearly we
are not to sit back and just let society and the culture around us fall into
chaos. We are called to make society and the culture of our times, to follow
the ways of Jesus teachings and we can do that by witnessing that we follow
Christ.
Our elected officials local, state and federal
are voted in to make laws that reflect who we really are, children of God. If
someone believes she/he is a Christian outside but it changes inside the ballet
box, to me that seem to suggest insincerity.
After Jesus’ ascension what are we to do? Do we
sit around and wait for something to happen or do we go and do something?
Before Jesus ascended, he entrusted his mission to the Apostles saying, “Go,
therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...” (Matt 28:19) While that
mission was entrusted to the Apostles, the successors of the Apostles, their
assistants, ministers, members of this congregation, you can assist in their
mission to evangelize by praying for them and by giving witness that you follow
Christ, living by Jesus example, especially in those situations where you are
the one to witness to Christ. Is Christ relying on you to witness to him where
no one else will?
May God our Father...enlighten the eyes of your
mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, what rich glories he
has promised the saints will inherit and how infinitely great is the power that
he has exercised for us believers. (Eph 1:17-19)
So what do we do now? We
don’t have Jesus with us in bodily form. But we do have him in Spirit form; all
the time, everywhere we go. We have Jesus himself living inside of us. The
Ascension proved to be a blessing as it prepared the disciples for the coming of
Jesus’ spiritual presence, no longer confined to the limitations of time and a
physical body.
The Ascension of our Lord indicates that there is now
work to be done by us. The Ascension of our Lord is a feast that is intended to
transform us from mere observers to active participants. The Ascension is meant
to transform us from people who only receive, who only consume, into
those who go out and give, those who go out and act.
Next Sunday, we will celebrate the great Feast of Pentecost,
as the Holy Spirit on that day poured out upon the disciples, as the promised
power from high comes upon them. But we are mistaken if we think this is only
something we will watch and celebrate, because that power from on high that
Jesus promises in today’s reading, that
is the power that poured out upon you at your baptism, when that water touched
you. That is the power that poured out upon you anew at your acceptance of
Christ and baptism. That is the power that flows into baptism, within your soul
and heart, when you drink that wine and eat that bread.
Jesus’ words in today’s reading from Acts are words for you:
“You will be my witnesses.” Jesus’ words in today’s reading from Luke are
words for you: You will preach repentance and forgiveness to all.
What sort of witness are you, as you go through your daily
life and work? Do you witness to people that suffering will not have the final
word? Do you witness that no brokenness, no sin, is beyond the healing love of
God? Do you witness that God invites people in? Do you invite people in? What
sort of witness are you?
Beloved, don’t simply receive and consume—give and act. The
power of God is indeed poured into your hearts. Though you may fear that you
are not wise enough, not strong enough, not good enough, the power of God is poured
into you. In the Ascension, we say goodbye to Christ’s bodily presence on earth
because you are now called to be that presence.
Go into this world, go forth from this place, and be a
witness to God’s undefeatable love. Amen.
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.
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer.
Almighty God, in Christ you taught us to pray,
and promised that we would receive all that we ask in his name.
hear our prayer.
Almighty God, in Christ you taught us to pray,
and promised that we would receive all that we ask in his name.
Hear now our prayers:
for the church universal …
for this congregation, its mission and ministry …
for the healing of the earth …
for peace and justice in the world …
for nations and leaders …
for our local community and those who have passed …
for the poor and oppressed …
for the bereaved and lonely …
for all who need healing …
for the church universal …
for this congregation, its mission and ministry …
for the healing of the earth …
for peace and justice in the world …
for nations and leaders …
for our local community and those who have passed …
for the poor and oppressed …
for the bereaved and lonely …
for all who need healing …
We ask this through Christ our Lord who taught us to pray;
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; And 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.
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; And 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.
CHARGE AND BLESSINGS
The risen Jesus appeared to
friends in many ways.
Christ is seen by person
today in people like us.
The life and teachings of Jesus
point us to God’s reign.
God promises to empower and witness.
We will be baptized with
the Holy Spirit.
This is the promise Jesus
made to us.
Through
revelation, we will know more of Christ.
Through the
work God gives us, we will grow.
Our worship sends us out to
work and witness.
We scatter to continue our
worship through service.
God sends us
out with love for all the saints.
We commit
ourselves to care for all God’s children.
Amen. Amen.