Everyone is welcome to join us as we celebrate Ascension Day! This day 40 days after Easter and ten days before Pentecost is the day our Lord Jesus ascended to Heaven after the Resurrection. This year we will have both Noonday Prayer at 12pm online via Zoom and a 6pm Communion Service at St. Paul’s Church followed by a pot luck Dinner in the beautifully restored St. Paul’s Hall-Annex. Please Come and See!
We will offer a 12pm Noonday Prayer online via Zoom. The Zoom invite is the same as our weekday Compline service. When you join the ZOOM meeting you will enter the virtual waiting room before you are admitted to the service. Please identify yourself with first and last name on ZOOM as you join so we can greet you. Come and See!
If you do not have a copy of the Book of Common Prayer, a link to the online version is below. It can be viewed online or downloaded for free.https://www.bcponline.org/
The Collect
Grant, we pray, Almighty God, that as we believe your only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into heaven, so we may also in heart and mind there ascend, and with him continually dwell; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Psalm appointed
Psalm 93
Dominus regnavit
1 The Lord is King;
he has put on splendid apparel; *
the Lord has put on his apparel
and girded himself with strength.
2 He has made the whole world so sure *
that it cannot be moved;
3 Ever since the world began, your throne has been established; *
you are from everlasting.
4 The waters have lifted up, O Lord,
the waters have lifted up their voice; *
the waters have lifted up their pounding waves.
5 Mightier than the sound of many waters,
mightier than the breakers of the sea, *
mightier is the Lord who dwells on high.
6 Your testimonies are very sure, *
and holiness adorns your house, O Lord,
for ever and for evermore.
The First Lesson
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.”
The Second Lesson
Luke 24:44-53
Jesus said to his disciples, “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.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 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, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. 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.”
Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
Return to The Lectionary Page
Join us Thursday Evening at St. Paul’s Church!
Or join us Thursday Noon on Zoom!
Join Zoom Meeting 7pm Evening Prayer/Compline
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/617475177?pwd=TGJGNU80bXFMT0hnUkhaQ3AwTUd6QT09
The painting of The Ascension 1801 is by Benjamin West and is displayed at the Denver Museum. Our office hymn is below. Please stop by online or in person and share our joy as give Thanks and Praise to the Lord!
