Worship Service at Church of the Dawntreader Thursday May 5, 2016 10:00 a.m. SLT
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
    Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™
    Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
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"New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989,
Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved." Designated by the initials, (NRSV).

Invocation:
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen
Confession and Absolution
We come before you, our Loving Father, Mother God, confessing most of all our need of you.
We confess that we have not always acknowledged how much we depend on you.
We confess that we have not always loved you with all our heart, soul and mind.
We have not always loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We ask that you will forgive us and grant us your strength to conform more fully to your loving will for us.
We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Amen.
In obedience to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is my privilege to declare to you and to myself, the entire
forgiveness of all our sins.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
Prayer of the Day
Let us pray.
Almighty God, your blessed Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things.
Mercifully give us faith to trust that, as he promised, he abides with us on earth to the end of time,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever.
Amen.

First Lesson: Acts 1:1-11 (NRSV)
1 In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning
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.
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.
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;
5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.
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.”
9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them.
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.”
Here ends the First Lesson

Psalm 47 (NRSV)
1 Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with loud songs of joy.
2 For the Lord, the Most High, is awesome, a great king over all the earth.
3 He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.
4 He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah
5 God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the king of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm.
8 God is king over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.
9 The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted.
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.

Second Lesson: Ephesians 1:11-23 (NRSV)
11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,
12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.
13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;
14 this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

15 I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason
16 I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.
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,
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,
19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.
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,
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.
22 And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church,
23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Here ends the Second Lesson.

Gospel Lesson: Luke 24:44-53 (NRSV)
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.”
45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,
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,
47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
48 You are witnesses of these things.
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.”

50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them.
51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.
52 And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy;
53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
Here end the Readings from Holy Scripture.

 - Sermon -

Today is the Feast Day of the Ascension of our Lord.
Today we celebrate the great day on which our Lord Jesus Christ rose from Earth to the highest heights of Heaven.
He rose from the grave on Easter Day.
He was with His disciples in His risen body for 40 days,
and then on the day we remember today,
He was taken up into heaven.
The disciples must have been looking up in complete amazement,
for two of the holy angels spoke to them, saying,
“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.”
I have long thought that these were the most important words of the event of the Ascension,
to provide us with some understand about Christ's return in His Second Coming.
He will not be reincarnated.
He will not be born of a human mother, ever again.
He will not appear quietly in some obscure corner of the nations of Earth.
He will come back on the clouds of glory, appearing to come down to return.
The whole world will see it together.
Maybe all the world's news services will have cameras there.
God would not depend on them,
but God loves to use human instruments in the accomplishment of His loving will.
The important point is that right up until He comes,
people will be saying,
"Look! Here He is!"
or, "Look! There He is!"
and He will be in none of those places.
Consider carefully the words of the holy angels,
He will come in the same way.
Now, at this point in my life and in my understanding of the Scriptures,
I have come to think that there is an even more important message of the Ascension.
You see, Jesus never left us.
He is with us right now, right where we are.
You and I are together in a virtual world,
and He is here.
Our hearts and minds are the home He has on Earth.
If we concentrate on the way His body left the Earth
and the way He will return,
if we spend our lives waiting for Him to come back,
we may easily miss the point that He is right here with us still.
In a way, the Ascension of His body into Heaven from Earth
is intended to remind us of this fact every time we think of it.
After His resurrection, His body is no longer limited to time and place the way our bodies are limited.
He can be everywhere and anywhere all at once.
He is restored to His divine majesty, and He is no longer only where His eternal, spiritual body is located.
Who knows where that could be?
Actually, we have a hint.
In every celebration of Holy Communion,
He is present with us in His body and blood.
The extension of His body through all time and space
is beautifully portrayed in the painting, "The Last Supper" by Salvador Dali.
A reproduction of the painting is right here at Dawntreader, on the west side of the foundation of the pyramid.
You might want to have a quick look at it before you leave on this Ascension Day.
Jesus is present with us in many ways.
In our thoughts, prayers and meditations, He is present by the power from on high,
by the Holy Spirit He promised.
All these experiences of His presence are possible for us
because He rose from the dead
and because He ascended from our world to the highest of the heavens.
He will come back in the same way as the disciples saw Him go,
and at the same time He is already here with us.
He is coming again in His risen body,
but His presence, body and spirit,
is with us whenever we think of Him or share in His celebrations,
and that will be true until that day on which we join Him in the eternal celebration of our own place at His table in heaven.
Then we will know His presence in ever new and greater ways forever.
Amen.

Prayer of the People
Please type your spontaneous petitions in chat.
Each prepared petition is intended to remind us of the things we need to pray about,
so a brief pause will be provided for us to pray our own petitions,
either sharing them in the chat window
or praying them in our own hearts.

Loving God, we pray for each other, for those who depend upon us for prayer, and for all people according to their needs.
We ask that your healing power may prevail in our lives.
We pray that those in positions of public trust may be worthy of that trust as they act as stewards of power and wealth
for the benefit of all.
We pray that conflicts may be resolved in the context of relationships,
so that violence of thought word and deed may be diminished all through our world.
We ask your blessing for all who bear witness to the Gospel, so that relationships with you may be deepened for all people.
All these things, and whatever else you see that we need, we ask that you will grant for the sake of your Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, in Whose name we pray.
Amen.
Our Lord's Prayer
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 sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever and ever,
Amen.
Benediction
May the Lord bless us and keep us.
May the Lord make His face to shine upon us and be gracious to us.
May the Lord lift up His countenance upon us, and give us peace.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
Amen +