Scriptures & Questions for Ascension Day

Ascension Day is Thursday, May 25
Our Eucharist will be at 12:15 p.m.

Here are the readings for Ascension Day.
I'll send Sunday's readings later in the week.


Suggestion: Print this and read a different passage each day and think about it (some questions are offered to help stimulate your reflection).

You'll find your experience of worship will be intensified.


May 25, 2006
Ascension Day, Year B
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

Acts 1:1-11
Ps 47 or Ps 93
Eph 1:15-23
Lk 24:44-53

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."
____________________

What are some of the changes that occur because of the ascension?
______________________________________________________

Psalm 47
1 Clap your hands, all you peoples; *
shout to God with a cry of joy.
2 For the Lord Most High is to be feared; *
he is the great King over all the earth.
3 He subdues the peoples under us, *
and the nations under our feet.
4 He chooses our inheritance for us, *
the pride of Jacob whom he loves.
5 God has gone up with a shout, *
the Lord with the sound of the ram's-horn.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises; *
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7 For God is King of all the earth; *
sing praises with all your skill.
8 God reigns over the nations; *
God sits upon his holy throne.
9 The nobles of the peoples have gathered together *
with the people of the God of Abraham.
10 The rulers of the earth belong to God, *
and he is highly exalted.
_____________________

What words or thoughts express your praises of God?
___________________________________________________

Ephesians 1:15-23
I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward
all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks
for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit
of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with
the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope
to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious
inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable
greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the
working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ
when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand
in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and
power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only
in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all
things under his feet and has made him the head over all things
for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills
all in all.
___________________

Read this passage as a prayer spoken in blessing over you.
What wisdom, power and authority have you been given?
____________________________________________________

Luke 24:44-53
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." 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.
____________________

Jesus empowers his disciples and gives them his blessing.
Now they are ready to live in his Spirit and to be his witnesses.
What is your sense of empowerment and blessing?
How do you live in his Spirit and witness?
__________________________________________________________________


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The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas