We held virtual worship on Sunday, May 24, 2020 at 10am! You can watch the recording below or on Facebook by clicking here.
Quote for Reflection
“This is the grace of Ascension Day: to be taken up into the heaven of our own souls, the point of immediate contact with God. To rest on this quiet peak, in the darkness that surrounds God. To live there through all trials and all business with the “tranquil God who makes all things tranquil.”
Br. Thomas Merton
CALL TO WORSHIP
This week, we were told that Churches are essential.
We already knew that.
We were told the church should re-open.
But we know that the church was never closed.
Only our buildings are.
In the Sacred Silence, in the Desperate Prayer, in the Abiding Peace
God is here.
In the Heartfelt Confession, in the Cleansing Cheer, in the Bold Affirmation
God is here.
In the Moving Spirit, in the Understood Sigh, in the Welcome Singing
God is here.
In the Stirring Challenge, in the Responding Cry, in the Deep Commitment
God is here.
And we are here, too. Fully, openly, faithfully. Amen.
OPENING TO GOD Safiyah Fosua
Abba, protect them in your name that you have given me,
so that they may be one, as we are one. (John 17:11)
O God, how we long to be people worthy of your name.
To embrace the stranger,
to love lepers into wholeness,
to comfort the motherless and the fatherless.
O God, how we long to shed our shame
Over those we ignore
Over those we silence
Over those we slandered and those we slaughtered.
O God, how we long to be one
One with you in love for all peoples
One with each other in fellowship and witness
One with creation in praising your name.
Loving God, satisfy our longings
to fulfill your longings in Jesus’ prayer.
HEBREW SCRIPTURE Jeremiah 29
These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon . . .
It said: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare . . . For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.
NEW TESTAMENT Acts 1:1-11
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 during 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.”
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. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 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.”
REFLECTION
MUSIC Come By Here arr. Andy Clarkson
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Choir
PRAYER FOR THE WEEK Prayer Song from Ghana
Journeying god,
pitch your tent with mine
so that I may not become deterred
by hardship, strangeness, doubt.
Show me the movement I must make
toward a wealth not dependent on possessions,
toward a wisdom not based on books,
toward a strength not bolstered by might,
toward a god not confined to heaven.
Help me to find myself as I walk in other’s shoes.
SHARING PRAYERS
LORD’S PRAYER
ANNOUNCEMENTS
POSTLUDE All Praise to Thee, O God This Night Charlie & Cynthia Yerrick
CALENDAR
Sundays after Worship: – Virtual Coffee Hour, 11:00 am
Monday Nights: Bible Project, 7:00 pm. This week: The Way of Exile
Wed, 27 May – 7 pm Re-Entry Task Force Zoom meeting, PPR to follow.
