Weekly Bible Notes Sunday after Ascension Day
Easter 7
Year C, Colour = White or Gold
Easter 7 - Sunday after Ascension Day
Introduction
This importance of dependence and sharing with each other is a fundamental part of being, not just as Christian people, but human beings. We know the importance of sharing and intimate and supportive relationship. The concept of a Christian who is isolated from others is fundamentally flawed, we exist only in community - as a part of a body. Feeling lonely is painful, but is it nature's way of telling us that this is not how we should be. So Jesus takes this on in his prayer that we might be one, even as he and the father are one - absolutely. We are made to share the joys and sorrows, the burdens and triumphs together.
“Christian unity is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Opening Verse of Scripture Psalm 47
Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. God has ascended amid shouts of joy. God reigns over the nations; he is seated on his holy throne.
Collect Prayer for the Day—Before we read we pray
O God the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: we beseech you, leave us not comfortless, but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us and exalt us to the place where our Saviour Christ is gone before, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Common Worship
Risen, ascended Lord, as we rejoice at your triumph, fill your Church on earth with power and compassion, that all who are estranged by sin may find forgiveness and know your peace, to the glory of God the Father. Common Worship
Risen Christ, you filled your disciples with boldness and fresh hope: strengthen us to proclaim your risen life and fill us with your peace, to the glory of God the Father. Common Worship
Lord of hosts, purify our hearts that the King of Glory may come in, even your Son, Jesus our redeemer; for he is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Methodist Worship
Eternal God, you have given authority in heaven and on earth to your Son, our savious Jesu Christ. Grant that we may never lose the vision of your kingdom but serve you with hope and joy; through him who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Methodist Worship
First Bible Reading Acts 16:16-34
Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave
girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great
deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and
the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who
are telling you the way to be saved." She kept this up for many days.
Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the
spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At
that moment the spirit left her. When the owners of the slave girl realized
that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and
dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them
before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our
city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept
or practice." The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the
magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten.
After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the
jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he
put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the
other prisoners were listening to them.
Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the
prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's
chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors
open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the
prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all
here!"
The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and
Silas. He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be
saved?" They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you
and your household." Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all
the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and
washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized.
The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was
filled with joy because he had come to believe in God--he and his whole
family.
Second Reading Revelation Chapter 22:12-21
"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star." The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.
Gospel Reading John 17:20-26
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe
in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as
you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may
believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me,
that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be
brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have
loved them even as you have loved me. "Father, I want those you have given
me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given
me because you loved me before the creation of the world. "Righteous Father,
though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have
sent me.
I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order
that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in
them."
Post Communion Prayer
Eternal God, giver of love and power, your Son Jesus Christ has sent us into all the world to preach the gospel of his kingdom: confirm us in this mission, and help us to live the good news we proclaim; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Commentary
Have you ever entered one of those competitions on cereal
packets or some other commodity from the supermarket. They ask you simple
questions and then conclude with a final challenge to write a slogan. It
will say something like ‘now describe in less than 10 words why Shreddies
are the best cereal.’ It focuses the mind to try and make a simple and easy
to understand slogan which encapsulates the goodness of Shreddies.
When we have to boil things down in this way it helps us to get rid of the
unimportant stuff and go to the heart of the matter. This is what marketing
is all about, getting to the core of the product and then explaining it in a
few words so that it captures the imagination and sells!
I suspect that if the church employed marketing consultants, they would
pronounce the verdict that we are failing to get our message across. Most
people 'in the street' have very little clue what the church is really
about. Ask the typical man on the bus what Methodists are about and he is
more likely to say something like ‘they don’t drink’ than any theological
understanding about grace. If he was asked the same question about Anglicans
he would probably start thinking about internal divisions over sexuality.
There is an urgent need for Christians to eradicate the negative and
accentuate the positive. We have to recognise our shared common goals, the
things which really matter, and then find ways of getting our core message
across. Too much of our time is wasted on internal struggle and strife,
vociferous debates in which we condemning particular things, or people or
ideas. The stuff that we hate we make sure everybody knows about!
This is not very profound, but the church has found it very difficult. It is
no surprise that because Christian people have failed to put into an
understandable way what we are about, others have failed to catch on. This
might seem like sound bite religion, and perhaps it is, but we need to
recognise that Jesus was excellent at sound bites! Jesus deliberately took
very complicated messages and reduced them to a few words, a simple picture
or even a short story. People instantly knew the things he was about, love,
forgiveness and living a better life, he made them understandable.
In the passage from the Gospel of John today Jesus draws attention to one of
these core principles of being a Christian. Jesus gives the same simple
treatment to the complicated idea of unity, but like all of his teaching it
simple, not simplistic.
Somebody asked me recently ‘what does it mean to be a ecumenical.’ I suppose
I could have gone to great lengths to explain the development of the
ecumenical message but I simply drew attention to the words of Jesus from
the reading in John’s Gospel today. Jesus makes it clear that he expects his
followers to be drawn together in unity. He captures this principle with the
wonderful catch phrase ‘that they may be one as we are one’. If this had
been a contest to find a slogan, it would have been a surefire winner. This
is what it means to be ecumenical, it is obedience to the deep desire of
Jesus that his followers should be united. It is not a suggestion, it is not
a complicated theological idea, it is just the straightforward prayer of
Christ. When we read these words we might wonder what all the fuss has been
about with different denominations and Christian churches. To be faithful to
Christ our divisions must fall and we must learn to be as one.
This importance of dependence and sharing with each other is a fundamental part of being, not just as Christian people, but human beings. We know the importance of sharing and intimate and supportive relationship. The concept of a Christian who is isolated from others is fundamentally flawed, we exist only in community - as a part of a body. Feeling lonely is painful, but is it nature's way of telling us that this is not how we should be. So Jesus takes this on in his prayer that we might be one, even as he and the father are one - absolutely. We are made to share the joys and sorrows, the burdens and triumphs together. As individuals we need to recognise the importance of being a part of others and we have to grow into mature adults so that we are able to know ourselves and others well enough to be able to get along without falling out. Immature Christians and churches need to grow up sufficiently that they will be able to get on with other Christians and churches whose only failure may be that they think or act differently. We are living some kind of fiction if we fail to realise that the fracturing of the church of Christ owes more to immaturity, tantrums and a determination by those seeking power to get their own way, than to any pursuit of godly truth. Charles Royden
Meditation
While we wait for Jesus’ return and for all things to be completed in him, we trust that Jesus’ promise has been fulfilled. We are Spirit-powered and so able to put aside grudges and give forgiveness. Because of his Spirit our lives are marked by the same love Jesus had. Through the Spirit we are learning to trust day by day and to surrender our lives more and more into God’s hands. We live each day in the present moment as we offer service and love to our neighbours. In all our words, actions, thinking, loving and giving, we pray that Jesus would join us at home, work and in all parts of our lives, to help us do good works in his name. We pray, "Come, Lord Jesus." For we need his Spirit to help us sustain our hope and efforts as his disciples in a frequently-unreceptive and even hostile world.
As we come forward to receive Communion today we will see a reflection of our already-existing unity: we will be receiving the same Body and Blood of the Lord. But we can’t close our eyes to our lack of unity. Communion time will offer an opportunity to pray with Jesus today that the unity he has with the Father might be more perfectly reflected in our own church and among all believers.
Hymns
- All hail the power of Jesus name Miles Lane
- Alleluia sing to Jesus Hyfrydol
- Jesus is Lord
- Glorious things of thee are spoken Austria
Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead
"Prayer is a plant, the seed of which is sown in the heart of every Christian.
If it is well cultivated and nourished it will produce fruit, but if it is neglected, it will wither and die."
Almighty and everlasting Father, you raised our Lord Jesus Christ to
your right hand on high. As we rejoice in his exaltation, fill us with
his Spirit, that we may go into all the world and faithfully proclaim
the gospel. This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and
reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and
ever. Amen. Ascension collect
O God, seeing as there is in Christ Jesus, an infinite fullness of all
that we can want or desire, may we all receive from him, grace upon grace; grace to pardon our sins,
and subdue our iniquities; to justify our persons and to sanctify our
souls; and to complete that holy change,
that renewal of our hearts, Which will enable us to be transformed into
the blessed image
in which you created us. O make us all acceptable to be partakers of the
inheritance of your saints in light. Amen. (adapted from the original by
John Wesley )
O LORD God Almighty, Father of angels and men, We praise and bless your
holy name for all your goodness and loving kindness to humanity. We
bless you for our creation, preservation, and for your unceasing
generosity to us throughout our lives; But above all, we bless you for
your great love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ.
We bless you for bringing us safe to the beginning of a new day. Grant
that this day we fall into no sin,
Neither run into any kind of danger. Keep us, we pray, from all things
hurtful to body or soul, and grant us your pardon and peace, So that,
being cleansed from all our sins, We might serve you with quiet hearts
and minds, and continue in the same until our life's end, through Jesus
Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. Amen. (adapted from the original by
John Wesley )
A Collect for Aldersgate Sunday
God of immeasurable grace Your Spirit has from age to age, confirmed
your work of salvation in the hearts of those who love you. Grant to
your people a true spirit of worship, That renewed in their calling They
might achieve the vision you have given to them. May we become your
people, United and equipped to proclaim the god news of Salvation for
all, By faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, Who reigns with you, and the
Holy Spirit One God, now and for ever. Amen.
Eternal and gracious God, grant that as we believe your Son, our Saviour
Jesus Christ, to have ascended with triumph into your kingdom in heaven,
so may we also in heart and mind ascend to where he is and with him
continually dwell; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the
Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Methodist Worship
Let me see you, O Lord, in those I meet today. In serving them may I
minister to you. May I recognise you disguised in the unattractive and
the irritable. Bear with my faults, O Lord, and look upon the good
intentions of my heart. Increase my faith and bless my work, now and for
ever. Amen. Mother Theresa of Calcutta
Gracious God, fountain of all wisdom,
we pray for all Christian people;
for Bishop N, for all Christian leaders,
and for those who teach and guard the faith …
May the word of Christ dwell richly in our hearts,
and knit us together in the bond of your love.
Hear us.
Hear us, good Lord.
We pray for the leaders of the nations,
and for those in authority under them …
Give them the gift of your wisdom,
and a right discernment in all things.
Hear us.
Hear us, good Lord.
We pray for our … (city/town/village/community);
for those who live and work here,
and for those who visit this place . . .
Speak your word of peace in our midst,
and help us to serve one another as Christ has served us.
Hear us.
Hear us, good Lord.
We pray for those who do not believe,
and yet who long to know you, the very Word of life …
Open their ears to hear your voice,
and open their hearts to the knowledge
of your love in Christ.
Hear us.
Hear us, good Lord.
We pray for those bowed down with grief,
fear or sickness,
especially …
May your living Word bring comfort and healing
to all those in need.
Hear us.
Hear us, good Lord.
We give thanks for all those who have died in the
faith of Christ
and we rejoice with [N and] all your saints,
trusting in the promise of your word fulfilled.
Lord of life,
hear our prayer,
and make us one in heart and mind
to serve you with joy for ever.
Amen.
A Blessing
Now, to God the Father, who first loved us, and made us accepted in the
Beloved;
to God the Son, who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own
blood;
to God the Holy Ghost, who sheddeth the love of God abroad in our
hearts,
be all love and all glory in time and to all eternity.
Amen. (John Wesley )
Additional Resources
Commentary
At the risk of sounding like a commercial, I wonder whether you have ever
used Head and Shoulders hair shampoo? The commercial shows a classic
dandruff situation as a 'before' and then a beautiful head of shiny black
hair as the 'after' shot. There are lots of these kinds of advertisements
with 'before and after,' I mention this one because it is one I know
people say is normally true, ie it works!
The product mention in these commercials claims to make such a remarkable
difference that life before and after the event is qualitatively
different. In our Bible reading today the church is told that there is
something of importance about to happen that there will be a transforming
before and after difference The product is of course the Holy Spirit.
Without the Spirit the church must stay at home and wait, because it is
just not worthwhile bothering. With the Holy Spirit things will be
remarkable, a total change.
The Church lives in the in-between time, between the "already" of Jesus'
birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension, and the "not yet" of his
return. And yet that interim is not a passive waiting that is marked by
inactivity, for the church is given a mission to be a witness to the world
of the redemptive activity of God in Jesus the Christ. It is called to
proclaim the good news of forgiveness and reconciliation, and the hope of
newness that is given voice in the resurrection itself. It is a grand
vision of being God's people, God's agents of transformation in the world.
The mission of the church here is nothing less than to go into the world
as God's people, and proclaim a subversive, transforming message about a
suffering God who calls anyone without discrimination to respond. It will
not be a popular message. In fact, it will be scandalous. And people will
not be so eager to accept just anyone into their fellowship, as we learn
all too quickly in Acts. The task will be far more enormous than anyone
imagined, confirmed by the fact that the church still faces the same
issues today.
However, the message today is to wait. Before the church can be the
church, it must wait for the power, for the ability to carry out that
mission. There is a clear realisation from the very beginning of Luke's
Gospel, that we simply cannot do what God has called us to do on any level
without God's help. That enabling power for which they are waiting is not
something they can generate or make happen by their own efforts. It is a
gift of God, in his own time and in his own way. Perhaps this Ascension
Sunday, as we observe the return of Jesus to the Father we can remember
Luke tells us that the church cannot be the church without the power of
the Holy Spirit enabling Jesus' followers to carry out their task as
witnesses. Luke is clear that the church is the church only when it has
waited until it has been clothed with power from on high.
We have something about which we can bear witness! And yet, we realise
that we cannot possibly do that in a world that does not really want to
hear that message. So we are left with an utter dependency on the work of
God to empower us for that task (cf. 1 Cor 3:6). And so we wait. But we
wait with the full expectancy that the power will come, that the Spirit
will so enable us as his people that we can boldly bear witness and
proclaim the message.
Commentary
The passage from Acts today describes Paul and Silas being thrown into the jail at Philippi. Although they were falsely imprisoned after being beaten up, the two men kept up their spirits by singing praises to God. Even such a disastrous set-back did not crush their sense of God’s purpose in sending them on their journey. Instead, imprisonment became an opportunity to proclaim their faith. And so it was that the first two converts in Europe were Lydia, who was not only a woman but a trader and their jailer, a minor public servant. Hardly the kind of converts who seemed to add prestige to the Church! But the story of Paul and Silas’ adventure reminds us that Jesus too often was found spending time on the unimportant or the marginalized. Jesus placed a value on everyone equally, regardless of their wealth, status or gender. His Jewish contemporaries who favoured their own faith over that of foreigners; men over women; well over sick; rich over poor; found Jesus hard to understand. Jesus’ radical message of human equality in the eyes of God is still challenging. Today, Aldersgate Sunday, we will be thanking God for the ministry of John Wesley and his brother Charles. Their sense of God’s calling took them into the newly industrialised cities of late eighteenth century England, where they reached out to the poor and exploited factory workers. The Wesleys were often treated with violence and hostility but they persevered and won thousands over to belief in Jesus. At His Ascension Jesus charged His disciples to spread the Gospel and to be the church until He should come again. Paul and Silas took up that challenge, the Wesleys took up the challenge in their time and we have the same duty to proclaim the Lord in our own age. The era is different but the message of love, forgiveness and joy remains the same.
Joan Crossley
Read more about Aldersgate Sunday
Meditation
'Immature Christians and churches need to grow up sufficiently that they will be able to get on with other Christians and churches, whose only failure may be that they think or act differently. We are living some kind of fiction if we fail to realise that the fracturing of the church of Christ owes more to immaturity, tantrums and a determination by those seeking power to get their own way, than to any pursuit of godly truth.'
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ your Church was founded on unity and love. Yet we confess to you Lord that we can't love other people all the time, sometimes we don't even love ourselves. There are some people we don't even want to love, or like, or help, or understand, or go through the agony of forgiving. We wonder how we can start to try and love them at all. Yet you, most Gracious Father, gave Christ for us in love. And in turn he poured out love upon us and prayed for our unity with one another and with you. Loving God, help us to love, bring us closer to you and to one another. As we turn to you, pour your Spirit out upon us and lead us in the way we should go that your light might shine in us and through us. Amen.
Lord, God of peace, we thank you for the hopes, the efforts and the
achievements which your Spirit of peace has inspired in our days -
stirring up love where there was hate, sympathy where there was suspicion,
care where there was indifference. Open our minds and our hearts even more
to the specific demands which love for others makes upon us, so that we
may be more truly makers of peace. Remember, God of mercies, those who are
oppressed, those who are suffering and dying for the birth of a world in
which all people will be more truly a single human family. May your
kingdom come for all people of every race and language your kingdom of
justice, of peace, of love, and may all the earth be filled with your
glory. We make our prayer through Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. Amen.
Lord, lead us to be peace-makers, building connections between
individuals, focusing on what unites people rather than on what separates
us and highlights our differences. Lord, it's easy to harm relationships;
instead, give us the power of your Spirit that we may build up and make
new the bonds between people.
Meditation
In 1863, the "Football Association" was founded, to set out clear rules
for the game and to distinguish it from rugby football and other similar
games. With the foundation of the Football Association, the game began to
be called "association" or "assoc", giving the word "soccer". In May each
year the Cup Final is held at Wembley. After the First World War it became
a tradition for community singing to take place at the Football Cup Final
at Wembley. King George V suggested that a hymn be included, and "Abide
with me" was chosen. It is still sung before the Cup Final every May.
The words were written by Henry Lyte in the fishing village of Brixham in
Devon, where he had been the Vicar since the age of 30. His words are
particularly touching because he wrote them whilst dying of tuberculosis.
On the 4th September 1847 he said goodbye to the congregation of his
church. He had been given early retirement because of his chronic health.
In his last sermon he preached about the time when two disciples were
walking along a road towards a village called Emmaus. Jesus had been
killed a few days before, but now he joins them and walks beside them. He
is risen from the dead. At last they recognise him and say to him: "Stay
with us. It is nearly evening." Henry Lyte took this theme and wrote his
hymn as he walked by the sea. He heard the ebb and flow of the tide and,
for the last time there, he watched the sun set. The following day he was
to go abroad on the advice of his doctor, who had told him that in a drier
climate he might live a little longer. And so he wrote "Abide with me"
(meaning "stay with me"), "it is fast becoming evening." As he wrote his
words, Henry Lyte also thought of his own life coming to a swift end. No
earthly helpers or comforts could make much difference to him. 2 months
later, on his way to sunny Italy, he died in Nice, France. His last words
were "Peace, joy," as he pointed his hand towards the sky. We can use our
imagination and place ourselves on the seashore as the sun is setting. We
listen to the words of his hymn as the prayer of this sick man who knew he
was at the "evening" of his life, about to die from tuberculosis - but at
peace with himself and God.
Abide with me, fast falls the eventide;
the darkness deepens, Lord, with me abide.
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
help of the helpless, O abide with me.
Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;
earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
change and decay in all around I see;
O thou who changest not, abide with me.
I need thy presence every passing hour;
what but thy grace can foil the tempter's power?
Who like thyself my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, O abide with me.
Meditation
Many offices have a little note on the wall which reads “You don’t have to be mad to work here, but it helps!”. Perhaps we could adapt that to “you don’t have to be mad to be an evangelist but…..” . Our duty as Christians to proclaim Jesus and to offer the love that He showed can be dangerous. As we live in a country which seems ever more angry, rude and self-centred, love is often snarled at or thought weak. It can be, if not physically dangerous, but it can be tough to try and be a Christian! For example I stopped to see if a young woman who was collapsed over a shopping trolley in the middle of the road wanted help – she bit my head off for invading her privacy! We are called to offer love and kindness to strangers and we will often be rejected. If we try and tell what we believe, we will often be ignored. But we are called to offer and to keep on offering so that the work of Jesus can be accomplished. So “be of good cheer”, as Wesley would have said, and do not be downcast when your kindnesses are rejected. The example of great Christians of the past is to keep on in the face of rejection, for the Lord’s sake.
Hymns Crown him with many crowns
- All earth was dark-on notices
- Christ is the world's true light
- Christ Triumphant ever reigning
- The head that once was crowned with thorns
- All people that on earth do dwell. (Tune: Old hundreth: long first note)
- Be thou my vision (Tune: Slane)
- O for a thousand tongues(Tune: Lyngham )
- Amazing Grace ( Amazing Grace)