Preparation for Worship. For today’s worship, you will need 2 candles, …… If you want to celebrate communion, have some food and drink to share. The type of food and drink does not matter for they are merely symbols which help us celebrate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Invitation. Today we remember and celebrate the ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into heaven. God is no longer living in bodily form among us, but God does live in bodily form in the world through those who have committed themselves to live the way of Jesus Christ. We are called to be Christ’s presence. We are the church.
Even in the best of times, being the church can be tough. Even though we look different from what we did a couple of months ago, we still remain the body of Christ. We are putting into practice our belief that being able to occupy a building is not “churching.” “Churching” is living like Jesus. May we celebrate today Christ’s ascension realizing that God totally trust us to keep on “churching” in new and creative life-giving ways!
The Worship of God
Light two candles in recognition of Christ’s presence. In our practice, one candle represents Jesus’ divinity and the other Jesus’ humanity.
Gathering for Worship
Passing the Peace
Say to one another, “May the Peace of Christ be with you.”
Respond by saying, “And also with you.”
Call to Worship
A new day has begun.
Hope wins!
A fresh start is granted.
Faith wins!
Today you have the opportunity to do something new.
Hope wins!
Christ is entering your life in a new way.
Faith wins!
Come, let us worship God, who is inviting us into life in a new way,
a way that transcends death, a way of hope and faith.
Let us worship Christ, who overcame death and gave us new life!
Opening Prayer
Almighty God,
as we prepare to worship today,
we ask that you will stretch our imaginations
to sense the majesty and mystery of your ascension.
Help us perceive how Jesus’ presence in heaven
can give us confidence in our praying
and hope for the future.
Through Jesus, our Lord.
Amen.
Songs and Psalms of Praise and Prayer
A Reading from the Psalms
Psalm 47:1-2, 5-9
Clap your hands, all you people!
Shout joyfully to God with a joyous shout!
2 Because the Lord Most High is awesome,
he is the great king of the whole world.
5 God has gone up with a joyous shout—
the Lord with the blast of the ram’s horn.
6 Sing praises to God! Sing praises!
Sing praises to our king! Sing praises
7 because God is king of the whole world!
Sing praises with a song of instruction!
8 God is king over the nations.
God sits on his holy throne.
9 The leaders of all people are gathered
with the people of Abraham’s God
because the earth’s guardians belong to God;
God is exalted beyond all.
Prayers for Others. As we did last week, pause after each line to give voice to prayers as prompted.
Merciful God, who shelters us and guides us,
we give you thanks for…
God who comforts, receive those who are fearful and lonely…
God whose love is steadfast,
be refuge for the ill, the dying, and those who care about them…
God of righteousness,
we ask for your wisdom and ways of justice to prevail
in our community, this nation, your world…
God who seeks our trust,
grow us and guide us in your ways that are life-giving in your world…
Amen.
Song of Praise
Halleluya! We sing your praises,
all our hearts are filled with gladness.
Halleluya! We sing your praises,
all our hearts are filled with gladness.
Christ the Lord to us said:
I am wine, I am bread;
I am wine, I am bread,
give to all who thirst and hunger.
Now he sends us all out,
strong in faith, free of doubt;
strong in faith, free of doubt,
tell to all the joyful Gospel.
Halleluya! We sing your praises,
all our hearts are filled with gladness.
Halleluya! We sing your praises,
all our hearts are filled with gladness.
Celebrating Communion
Communion. (Bread and wine were common foods during Jesus’ day. As we celebrate communion at home, use common food and drinks you have. The type of food and drink is not what matters, but it matters that you remember Christ as you share, eat, and drink.)
A Reading from the Gospels, Mark 14:22-24. While [the disciples and Jesus] were eating, [Jesus] took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”
Share what you have to eat. Before everyone eats, have someone say,
“This food represents the body of Christ. As we eat, we remember Jesus.”
Share what you have to drink. Before everyone drinks, have someone say,
“This drink represents the covenant Christ made with us that our sins will be forgiven. As we drink, we remember Jesus.”
Prayer of Thanksgiving. Dear God, thank you for your abounding compassionate love. Thank you for guiding and leading us through these difficult times. Thank you for always being with us. Amen.
Song. End communion by singing a hymn. You may want to sing Amazing Grace.
Amazing grace how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I am found,
was blind but now I see.
The New Testament
for the 7th Sunday of Easter
The Ascension of Jesus
Song of Adoration
Beautiful Savior
Listen to the New Testament lesson and/or read below.
A Reading from Acts 1:1-11
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.”
Reflection “Where Are We Going?” from Jeffrey
Listen to Jeffrey’s reflection and/or read below.
Reflection
The Christian good news of grace and peace was never meant to stay in one place. These final words of Jesus as recorded in the book of Acts should make that clear. It seems that the people who saw Jesus after the resurrection had some dreams, and they appear to focus narrowly on themselves and their national hopes. “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” We can spiritualize their words all we want and talk about the political role of a hoped for Messiah, but it is easy to read their question as a statement that puts their trust in a stable society–“surely God can use you, Jesus, to make our nation great like it was before.” Whatever was in their hearts, their eyes were focused on the ground beneath their feet. They had not bothered to look west, or east, they weren’t interested in north or south. Why should we care about people who don’t live near us? Shouldn’t we take care of our own first? Isn’t it enough to know that God loves the Jewish people and try to help them here in Jerusalem and Galilee?
Jesus doesn’t dismiss them out of hand, yet he calls them to raise their eyes to horizons they had not yet seen. When Jesus offers this Ascension call, his words include Jerusalem and Israel, but also expands the care of God to infinity and beyond: “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (v. 8).
This is not about Jesus predicting that Christianity will become a global world religion. It is about the translatable nature of the gospel of Jesus across a variety of cultures and languages and peoples. In essence, Jesus here gives them permission to consider something other than Jerusalem, or a kingdom with borders and leaders, as the central hope or the fulfillment of a promise or a work worth doing. Rather, Jesus’ words ask them to look to the next place, to yet another people, without dismissing what is left behind. Jesus doesn’t criticize Jerusalem, but his teaching is not bound there. Jesus doesn’t condemn Judaism, but his life illustrates that ethnicity and place of birth don’t define God’s people. Jesus doesn’t privilege missionary expansion over ministry at home, but his final words compel us to encourage the vitality of Christianity in places we will never go.
Long ago, in January 1984 to be precise, a divine urging to become a “foreign missionary” began to take root in me. I had been reading the stories of Corrie ten Boom alongside my father’s National Geographic magazines. A married couple from my home church, Dr. and Dr. Roper, were medical missionaries in Lebanon and they came home to share about their work often. Being a missionary not only seemed adventurous, but the idea that an entirely different culture and language and way of living was taking place underneath the same sun was intriguing to me. And it turned out that folks in these other countries had a religious tradition, full of beliefs and practices and hopes and works of justice and kindness just like the Christianity I embraced. So when I read Acts 1 as a teenager, for about the 100th time(!), I heard Jesus’ words about “the ends of the earth” as a hope…a plan…even, perhaps, a calling.
Many things have changed since 1984. I’m no longer a teenager and my understanding of the best way to be a missionary has evolved. Yet that divine urging to see the world know and express God’s love and justice has not waned. That’s why Tonya and I have always connected the local church to “the ends of the earth.” Our partnerships here in Jackson County, our ministry and mission to our neighbors and friends and church family, they are vitally important to the central heart of the church. We cannot be a good “local” church family and ignore the people near us. But lest we ever become convinced that Cullowhee people are somehow unique and let that pride cause us to overlook the real humanity of others, we must always be casting our care out into the world. That’s why we have helped build a foster home for homeless children in Ukraine, and a church in Brazil. That’s why we helped support sister churches in Arkansas and built an adobe house for a pastor on the Mexico border. It’s why we partner with the Alliance of Baptists to empower Christians in Zimbabwe, Cuba, and Morocco carry God’s love amongst their own people with vitality and hope.
On this Ascension Sunday in 2020, we recognize that our daily lives have been narrowed over the last several weeks by the ongoing global pandemic. We have been isolated more than normal, and concerned about our friends and community and the possibility of outbreaks of illness and rising numbers of cases of COVID-19 in our own county. It would be easy to limit our care and concern for those we know. But these last words of Jesus serve as an invitation for us to lift our eyes to the edges of our world and begin to look beyond ourselves. As Christians who claim to love each other as an act of obedience to Christ’s command, we must be intentional about developing a love for people all over the world. We must have compassion and love for Chinese and Iranians and Italians who are grieving their loved ones who died. We are called to help Brazilians and Georgians and Cubans know God’s love even deeper and in turn to be helped by them. We have to learn from other countries, other peoples, other religions, how to live well with the Earth, how to share equitably with each other, how to maintain peace amidst differences, and how to find enough justice to overcome oppression, racism, and poverty. We cannot do these things here alone, we do not have all the answers ourselves, we are not the only ones who love God and are loved by God. We are the foreigners who have lived at the ends of the Earth, farther West than Jesus’ followers could have ever imagined. But God imagined us and the possibility of our faith. And just like those who heard Jesus’ last words, we are all called by a divine urging to discover God’s imagination for the world rather than remain limited to our own place. In the end, we know that “Jesus loves the little children of the world.” But Jesus’ last words were not to acknowledge that he loved the world, it was an invitation for us to love them, go to them, learn from them, and share our love of God together with them. Today that is easier than ever, and also just as hard, but perhaps never more important.
Questions for Reflection
- How do you stay in place in order to be safe and also let your mind and heart be open to the wider world? How is that connected to your Christian faith?
- Where in the world would you like to go in order to understand better what a different culture is like? Who in the world would you like to spend time with to understand a new perspective on religion, family, or life in general?
- What makes our culture “foreign” to Christian faith and virtue, and what makes it welcoming to Christian practice?
Prayer of Thanksgiving. Offer a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s love and ask God to help our church family grow deeper and deeper in love.
Song of Faith
O Christ, When You Ascended
O Christ, when you ascended, you took your rightful throne;
Your time on earth had ended — yet we weren’t left alone.
You reign o’er earth and heaven; your Spirit guides our way.
Your prayers uphold your people; you lead your church each day.
We look at earthly rulers and see what they command:
We note their years of power, the borders of their land.
Yet, Lord, you are not bounded by things like time and space;
Your reign is never-ending, you rule in every place.
We’re tempted. Lord, to leave you in stories nicely told;
Sometimes we don’t believe you and say your ways are old.
Sometimes we feel so lonely and live in doubt and fear —
But your ascension means, Lord, you’re present with us here.
It’s often quite a challenge to follow in your Way;
We’re easily distracted! It’s hard, Lord, to obey.
Sometimes we give you Sundays — an hour, maybe two —
But your ascension means, Lord, all life belongs to you.
One day, O Lord, we’ll know you, as we are fully known;
One day this world of sinners will bow before your throne.
One day, God’s whole creation will sing and praise your name;
On earth as now in heaven, we’ll celebrate your reign.
Sending Out
Go with the tenderness of Jesus’ care for each one of us.
Go with the abundance of God’s grace and love.
May compassion, grace, and love overflow from you
and be as blessings to the world.
Go, for Christ is out in the world,
still calling us to life and love.
May the grace of Christ Jesus,
and the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you,
today and always.
Alleluia! Amen.
Closing Song. In our tradition, we close worship by singing the first verse of Blest Be the Tie. Mindy starts us each week, and so she does today as well.
Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above. Amen.
Credits: The image is Ascension, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54351 [retrieved May 19, 2020]. The Call to Worship is an adaptation from a call to worship written by Rev. Mindi and posted on Rev-o-lution, http://rev-o-lution.org/. The Opening Prayer comes from the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship website. The Song of Praise, Halleluya! We Sing Your Praises is a South African Spiritual. Psalm 47:1-2, 5-9 is from the Common English Bible and read by Carmen, Derick, Zoey, and Joyce. Elizabeth created the video. Beautiful Savior was written and arranged by Robert Lee. The piano was played by Tracy. The singers were Ally, Laura, Kendall, Justin, Elizabeth, Tonya, Wyatt, and Mindy. A big thanks to Wyatt for putting the recording together this week so Mindy could spend time with Millie. That college education really works! 🙂 Amazing Grace was written by John Newton (1807) and played by Aidan on the piano. Acts 1:1-11 was read by Gerald and Michele. The tune to the Song of Faith was written by Henry Thomas Smart, 1835 (“The Day of Resurrection”). The words were written by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. Used by permission. The Sending Out is an adaptation from “May 24, 2020” in Seasons of the Spirit™ SeasonsFUSION Lent • Easter 2020. Blest be the Tie was written by John Fawcett (1782) and sung by Mindy. Permission to podcast / stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-724755. All rights reserved. All writings have been used by permission from the posting sites or authors.
Cullowhee Baptist Church 
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