1030am Sunday 5-24-20

One who contributed their musical Talent kind of got me Jam in a little bit. It was kind of nice. I liked it a lot. I look forward to the time. I wish I could give you a more information when we could get back together and praise God together until then we are grateful for your response to Connie and I'm grateful to Connie for continuing to encourage all of our musicians members parishioners visitors and Friends a ticket in their praise God with their own gifts and talents time Talent treasure in testimony. We're grateful for everyone who contributed to that I'm invite you now as you are able again stand as you are how the physical capacity wherever you are as we read together the holy gospel for this Ascension Sunday. This gospel today comes from the Gospel of John the 17th chapter. Glory To You O Lord

after Jesus had spoken these words. He looked up to heaven and said father the hour has come glorify your son. So that the son may glorify you since you have given him authority over all people to give eternal life to all whom you have given him and this is eternal life. That they may know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on Earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now father glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. I have made your name known to Those whom you gave me from the world to me and they have kept your word. Now. They know that everything you have given me is from you. For the word that you gave me I have given to them and they have received them and no in truth that I came from you and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf. I am not asking on behalf of the world but on behalf of Those whom you gave me because they are yours all mine are yours and yours are mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world and I am coming to you Holy Father protect them in your name that you have given me so that they may be one as we are one. This is the gospel of Our Lord. Praise to you o Christ. Please be seated.

I invite you to pray with me.

James be broken lives be healed In This Moment Christ be revealed in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit. Amen.

Well when? When I was much younger. So a few years ago.

My grand father God Rest his soul he passed away several years ago. He was a man of many talents. And when I was younger he exercised at one of those talents by flying human has he had his pilot's license and we had a little high Wings Cessna nothing big or fancy. We shared it with several other people and my grandfather would when it was his turn he would go flying and occasionally we would go on family trips to exotic places. This is from Sarasota, Florida. So we go to fly to exotic places like Lakeland and Tampa get the hours in an in kind of go ahead and have fun and we would literally and we would fly we would fly to the Lakewood airport and there was this little restaurant there and I loved it and all these kind of model planes that they are. Over the years just kind of hanging from the ceiling. That was really cool. I loved it. But before we would leave my Grandpa would do all of the the checks in the plane, you know checked all control services all the different make sure there's no holes or cracks in the plane checked all the gauges all the electronics and we climb into this little Cessna and I get in the backseat and drop me in and my favorite part of the whole trip was my grandfather. Let me say the words that that back that I thought my word. Can I thought everything was in a voice-controlled back that it wasn't here to switch but he would say all right time to say our words and in the words that I had to say, we're clear prop getting clear propeller. So don't get away from the propeller can hear it. Right and I was yelling as loud as I could and I would say, alright Peter. Say say your thing and I would say Claire trop and he pushed the button unbeknownst to me and the engine would start and then probably would go and it would start and would be off and we taxi and we get clearance from the tower and we Ascend Ascension again, remember and we climb. And I loved that part of the trip. And that was the only part I love of the trip because for the entirety of the rest of the trip. All I would do was kick the seat of my grandmother in front of me yell and scream that I was bored. So not all that different from today. I guess. It's that Ascension part that I have always remembered and today on ascension Sunday. We hear from Jesus as he looks up me prays for his disciples out. This isn't the part in the scripture where Jesus is ascending. What is the part where Jesus is looking up to his heavenly father who he knows he will return to and it's before he has been killed. So Jesus today is praying for his disciples. It's just kind of last farewell discourse for his disciples who he knows will will need something in the future to look up to they will need discouraged. They will need this encouragement the support. It's a Jesus prays for them and he asked his father in Heaven the Eternal one. To be with them to encourage them to strengthen their spirit for a coming hour and day of his crucifixion and the promise is that on the other end of that death of the other end of that grave experience. There will be a resurrection and then there will be on ascension. And you know, Jesus always has us. It seems to me as I explained to her children looking up. He always is encouraging us to look up it in a myriad of ways not just with our eyes but with our spirits and with our with our hands with our hearts and our minds with with everything that we are to praise God and praising God to always look and to act and to strive for the higher things in the world for the higher things in our attitudes. I'm in town parties are world this Ascension that Jesus will do that. He does on this day in the life of the church. I imagine the disciples were all their themselves looking up as Jesus was raised into the Heavenly places.

this Ascension it is important that we recognize that this Ascension that Jesus does is not the same Ascension that you are I are able to do but it is important. I don't want us to believe that the only way to God is for us ourselves to literally rise to God because God came to us and Rose for us at a son did for us so that we could be fully human so that we would not have to climb this ladder of Holiness that some believe that we have to it is Christ who makes us holy it is Christ who raises us. It is Christ who ascends for us and raises us up in his power. in this story in the scripture. Jesus is praying for his disciples because he knows that their ability to follow him is clouded and in stumbled and it's it's it's marred by my by obstacles and challenges that you and I often times will will clumsily stumble over and he he raises us up and he strengthens us because he knows that we will not be able to follow where he leads. But he raises God raises his son and his son ascends into heaven so that we might be able to know what it is to have someone with us wherever we are and wherever we go. I miss this looking up that he calls us to do this this this having the attitude of Christ this having the spirit of Christ this hopeful never retreating always believing spirit. It causes us to look up but in looking up it also causes us. to look around it's important that as the church we don't get so focused on our own Holiness and our own a sense into the spiritual Realms that we forget that Jesus says, yes love God and look up to God but also love your neighbor. And so it's important that that we look up but it's also important that we look around that. We bring our eyes down to the world that God came to in Jesus Christ and whom he loves and end that we see where our neighbors are that we hear their challenges that we share our challenges are stumbling block the places where we failed that we have that authentic relationship with others that we are free and a note that we can share our voice and be a tan and receive their voice with our ears in in love and compassion for one another to encourage to strengthen to support one another it is always a Euphoric experience to do the ascending part of the journey, right? We all know that that is sent is is kind of the the the gold that we sometimes have for ourselves, but sometimes we forget That the that the journey and the Descent are also important parts of that Journey as painful as they may be and I don't mean I just end of a plane. I mean The Descent of our Spirits or are The Descent of relationships, which is better the Brokenness the the places of Our Lives that that turn to valleys and canyons and caverns. It's important that we recognize that those are also places where God is that God isn't just in the Heavenly places. Yes, he lives and resides with God. But much like water will always speak the lowest place love of God will also do the same and it will find the PATH down into the places where you are where we are. And so that is why it's important that as God's church as the body of Christ as a representative of God in Christ Jesus that we need to not only be looking up and loving God, but we need to bring her eyes down to love people. The word religion which is Christianity has one of the major world religions need the actual original language at least the Latin for where we get the word religion from it comes from the Latin and the word is religio. And in the word religio means to literally re ligament. Terry ligament, otherwise another term would be to reconnect. If if our religion doesn't do that. That it's not worthy of our time and it's not a true religion as we gather together publicly know virtually. We are called to real ligament ourselves to reconnect ourselves to God to to look up to see the places that God is calling us to strive for knowing that it's impossible for us, but it is possible in God, you know, Martin Luther says God doesn't need your good works. But your neighbor does. And so so we're looking up God looks at us and he smiles and he loves us and he saves us and forgives us but that's not the end of the journey that that's not the ascent isn't the intended Final Destination because eventually we need to descend in our journey. We need to go down into the places of the world to bring our eyes after being filled at an end fed fermented with God's love and being basking in that gray. We need to take that Radiance that light that God gives to us when you take it down. We need to bring our eyes down to the lower our gaze into the world around us recognizing that we need to reconnect not only ourselves to others, but also help them connect to the one who is the source of their life. And maybe you're in a place today. Will your feeling very disconnected your feeling very just ligament. I understand. And more importantly God does as well and this idea of Ascension is as beautiful and wonderful, but that's just not where you are in your heart today. If that's where you are today know that it is, okay. And that just has water will find the lowest place love will also find the lowest place and will not leave. Anyone behind as Jesus says that he has not lost a single one that God has given and God in Jesus Christ has not lost you either but he has in fact created in each and every one of us. A disciple who is capable and Cole and commissioned to share the good news that Jesus Christ is here with us. So on this Ascension Sunday look up. Look up in Hope look up in enjoy look up in Grace and let us Ascend together. Let us Ascend beyond our racial challenges in this country and World black men should not be being killed because they're driving or walking. What's a stand above our political differences with the stand above are in justices of the society that we live in let's let's just end above. Are economic challenges together by sharing what we have with others who do not. Today is a day of Joy but also a day of challenge. It's a day for us to recognize our feebleness to rise but also to not give up in trying to do so for With God all things are made possible wherever you are today. I pray that God is calling you to look up the God is Raising you up to ascend with Christ into a higher Consciousness into a higher. Joy into a higher piece. Above all I pray that we are able to take our eyes. Not off of God, but place them on to others to lower our looks to lower our eyes n22 religio to relive demented reconnect. Those who have not been conducted before to the source of all life Jesus Christ who on this day overcame death in the grave. I was raised by the glory of the father and ascended into the Heavenly places so that we might know that we have an advocate and encourage your cheerleader a power beyond ourselves rooting for each and everyone of us to be God's people and disciples. Let's pray together. Gracious God we thank you today for the gift of your son for his Ascension knowing that one day. He will return but until that day, we are his ambassadors and representatives and we are each called to first and foremost fix our eyes upon him to look up into the Heavenly places both in our spirit. and in the world Do have an optimistic Spirit to have a christ-like mentality to always believe the best. Hope the best and love the best as we are able to powered. Darby pray for all those who are in places where they feel they are in only descendant or low places. We pray God that as the church we would be able to reach down into their lives through the power of Christ spirit and we connect Marie ligament them back to the source of their life and their hope that we pray that you will be with us in this time. As you have been forever and will be into every tomorrow. We pray all this in your son's name on that.