Home Church, Ascension Sunday, May 16, 2021, Rev. Karen Hollis

Home Church, Ascension Sunday, May 16, 2021, Rev. Karen Hollis

We acknowledge these lands upon which we worship are the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation.

Preparing the Space Around Us

Whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here! Welcome if you are gathering on zoom or if you are worshipping at home with the bulletin. We are one community and all part of the body of Christ. I invite you to prepare the space around you so that for the next hour you can be fully in this worship experience, not to keep out the realities of the world, rather to focus us in the midst of it all on God. If you need to go and get something or shift something around you, feel free.

Preparing the Space within Us

Let us prepare now the space within us for a time of worship. I invite you to sit quietly, perhaps with feet on the floor, taking a couple of deep breaths and bring yourself into this moment. Open yourself to the presence of God who is with us and within us . . . as you intentionally open yourself to God, open yourself also to what you need from this time of worship.

Prelude: Ode to Joy by Beethoven - Turner Ivany

Greeting:  BAS

One:    Alleluia! Christ is risen.

All:      The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

One:    May his grace and peace be with you.

All:      May he fill our hearts with joy.

Opening Prayer - Bruce Prewer

Your love, O God, rules all, and your Christ is forever close to your heart. Uncloud our spirits, unfetter our lips, set free the joy that too often subsides behind familiarity, or is kept in a corner by our reticence or formality. Let us thank you with unabashed delight, and through the hallowed gifts of precious music, praise you with uninhibited worship. Through this same Christ Jesus, our Brother and Lord. Amen!

Hymn: Rejoice, the Lord is King - VU #213

1 Rejoice, the Lord is King!

Your risen Lord adore!

Rejoice, give thanks and sing

and triumph evermore:

[Refrain:]

Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;

rejoice; again I say, rejoice!

2 Jesus the Saviour reigns,

the God of truth and love;

when he had purged our sins,

he took his seat above. [Refrain]

3 God's kingdom cannot fail;

Christ rules o'er earth and heaven;

the keys of death and hell

are to our Jesus given. [Refrain]

4 Rejoice in glorious hope,

for Christ, the Judge, shall come

to glorify the saints

for their eternal home:

We then shall hear the archangel's voice;

the trump of God shall sound, rejoice!

Prayer of Confession                                  

At this celebration of Ascension, we take a moment of reflection as we prepare to watch Christ go. We find ourselves clinging to him as we call out from our places of suffering, from the particular angle of our lives. We attach ourselves to particular images of him, but they are images of our deep need, our deep wound, our deep hope that needs to be spoken. And then, we are astonished that while our images serve for a moment, Christ breaks beyond them in freedom and You remind us that You are yet fresh beyond our grasp. As we cry out your name today, break free from us, O God, and assure us again that You are God . . . beyond us . . . for us, but beyond us, acting out of Your own wisdom.

Silent prayer of confession

Assurance of Grace

Whether you connect with the person of Jesus or God feels unbearably far away, God is always with you and pours out God’s love for you in the specific ways you need. Thanks be to God!

Peace of Christ

Even as Christ passes through the veil, he is with us, bringing his peace wherever we gather. Let us share his peace with one another.

            One:    The Peace of Christ be with you all!

            All:      And also with you!

First Reading:

Acts 1:1-11 The Message - Lisa Griffith

Listen for the word of God to you this morning . . .

Dear Theophilus, in the first volume of this book I wrote on everything that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he said good-bye to the apostles, the ones he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. After his death, he presented himself alive to them in many different settings over a period of forty days. In face-to-face meetings, he talked to them about things concerning the kingdom of God. As they met and ate meals together, he told them that they were on no account to leave Jerusalem but “must wait for what the Father promised: the promise you heard from me. John baptized in water; you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And soon.” When they were together for the last time they asked, “Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?” He told them, “You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.” These were his last words. As they watched, he was taken up and disappeared in a cloud. They stood there, staring into the empty sky. Suddenly two men appeared—in white robes! They said, “You Galileans!—why do you just stand here looking up at an empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly—and mysteriously—as he left.”

Psalm 47 (Lynn C. Bauman)  -  David Soy

Clap and shout for joy you peoples, let earth cry out to God.

       Awestruck, stand before the mighty One, sovereign over all

For it is God who rules the nations, and God who brings them low.

       It is God who chooses land for us and makes Jacob’s pride.

God has ascended to the throne with shouts and trumpets loud,

       So join the song and sing your praise

To the ruler over all. Make beautiful your music with hymns of highest praise,

       To the Sovereign of the nations, seated on a throne.

For there the world’s nobility with the sons of Abraham,

       Join with the mighty ones of earth as servants of the Lord.

Gospel Reading -   David Soy One:         

God be with you.          

All:        And also with you.

One:      The Good News of Jesus Christ according to Luke

All:        Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 24:44-53 (Inclusive Bible) Then Jesus said to them, “Remember the words I spoke when I was still with you: everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the psalms had to be fulfilled.” Then Jesus opened their minds to the understanding of the scriptures, saying, “That is why the scriptures say that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. In the Messiah’s name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of all this. “Take note: I am sending forth what Abba God has promised to you. Remain here in the city until you are clothed with the power from on high.” Then Jesus took them to the outskirts of Bethany, and with upraised hands blessed the disciples. While blessing them, the saviour left them and was carried up to heaven. The disciples worshiped the risen Christ and returned to Jerusalem full of joy. They were found in the Temple constantly, speaking the praises of God.

One:    This is the Gospel of Christ;

All:      Praise be to Jesus Christ

 

Reflection: - Let’s Get to Work!                        

Silent Reflection

                                  

A New Creed

Let us affirm our faith . . .

We are not alone,

    we live in God’s world.

 We believe in God:

    who has created and is creating,

    who has come in Jesus,

       the Word made flesh,

       to reconcile and make new,

    who works in us and others

       by the Spirit.

We trust in God.

We are called to be the Church:

    to celebrate God’s presence,

    to live with respect in Creation,

    to love and serve others,

    to seek justice and resist evil,

    to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,

       our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death,

    God is with us.

We are not alone.

    Thanks be to God.         

Prayers of the People  -  Susan Brockley One:   

Word of Truth,            

All:      Hear Our Prayer

 

Lord’s Prayer  -   Ecumenical Version

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power,

and the glory are yours

now and for ever. Amen.

Offering -   Jacqui Parker-Snedker      

Offering Prayer Let us pray . . .                                           

Wherever we are and wherever we go, O God, you meet us. You open your kingdom to us in the midst of community life, for it is in our life together that heaven meets earth. Grow your kingdom here, we pray, and call each of us to the places and roles where we are most needed. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

 

Hymn: We Shall Go Out with Hope of Resurrection -  VU #586

1 We shall go out with hope of resurrection;

we shall go out, from strength to strength go on;

we shall go out and tell our stories boldly;

tales of a love that will not let us go.

We'll sing our songs of wrongs that can be righted;

we'll dream our dream of hurts that can be healed;

we'll weave a cloth of all the world united

within the vision of new life who sets us free.

 

2 We'll give a voice to those who have not spoken;

we'll find the words for those whose lips are sealed;

we'll make the tunes for those who sing no longer,

expressive love alive in every heart.

We'll share our joy with those who are still weeping,

raise hymns of strength for hearts that break in grief,

we'll leap and dance the resurrection story

including all in circles of our love.

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God from generation to generation, in the Church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever. Amen.

Blessing -  Iona Community

If you are with another person, you’re invited to bless each other, taking every other line.

One:      The Creator’s blessing be yours on your road, on your journey, guiding you, cherishing you.

A-M:      The Son’s blessing be yours, wine and water, bread and stories, feeding you, challenging you.

N-Z:       The Spirit’s blessing be yours, wind and fire, joy and wisdom, comforting you, disturbing you.

All:        The Angel’s blessing be yours, on your house, on your living, guarding you, encouraging you. Let us walk together, a community on a journey sustained in God’s blessing. Amen!

One:      Let us go now in peace to love and serve the Lord.

All:        Thanks be to God! Alleluia!