Faith Daily | 26 May 2022

PRAYER of the DAY - APBA p 514

Eternal God,

whose Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life:

grant that we may walk in his way,

rejoice in his truth,

and share his risen life;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

Amen

Prayer of the week until Ascension

Grant, we pray, almighty God,

that as we believe your only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

to have ascended into the heavens,

so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend,

and with him continually dwell;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

GOSPEL for the Day: Luke 24: 44-53

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.’ 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things. 49And 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. 51While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 53and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

GOSPEL REFLECTION: Rev’d Jan

There is extraordinary artwork of the Feast of the Ascension. Christ rising to heaven ……and yet heaven is here, amongst us, we are part of it?, of Christ in glory and angels and heavenly bodies…. And yet here we are, a new creation, heaven on earth.

The Ascension of Christ is essential to take into ourselves the reality that we don’t see Jesus as he was seen in earthly life. It is the essentiality of having a casket in a funeral service; things have changed for ever. The one we love is no longer with us in the way that they have been with us. And yet, we still love, we still remember, we still take their words and way of life into our own as a challenge to live a better life.

The Ascension of Christ is about Jesus being of God, always, and being of us, always.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

FINAL PRAYER JC

You are going where?

And why can’t we come?

And why would you leave us?

And what will this look like, in the ages to come?

I always keep my promises.

I am always with you.

You are always with me.

I have said to you that I need to go

so that my Spirit can be embedded into your lives.

What will this look like?

You are me!

You are my church!

Wherever you go, wherever you are,

you carry my Spirit.

I thank God for ……. You!

Amen