OPENING PRAYER
Lord, we do pray that You would give us grace, to love you with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our minds and all of our strength. And give us extra Grace Lord, to love our neighbors, to love one another. As we love our own selves. Open your word now to our hearts, Lord, open our hearts to your word, in your holy name we pray, Amen. 
Good morning, once again, good morning, I want to begin this morning with a profound yet simple truth - a simple truth that comes radiating to us from heaven above. God is speaking! a simple, profound truth. God is speaking. In the beginning, God spoke and created all the heavens in the earth. Down  through the Old Testament, God spoke through the prophets, his chosen ones, to the people of Israel. He sent Jesus, the living word, to proclaim to speak for the gospel. Then the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the apostles, and they spoke forth and wrote down the entire New Testament for us. God is speaking, simple and profound. Truth. Today God is speaking, and he continues to speak to us through the Holy Scriptures. 

What is God saying to you this morning? Did you hear his voice as the word of God was being read?

​In the epistle to the Colossians, God is speaking through Paul the Apostle to the church. He is speaking to the church in Colossae. And he's speaking to the church at Ascension Anglican, as well. St. Paul was writing prophetically; he's writing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Remember, all scripture is, what? It is God breathed. God breathed, the word there is Ruach. It’s the word for breath, that's the same word that you use, as one of the names of the Holy Spirit, the Ruach of God. All scripture is God breathed. And Paul is sort of breathing out or God is breathing out through Paul, this letter to the Colossians. This word to them he's speaking to them, he's speaking to us. Because the words of God, the Word coming, words from Heaven, continue to speak and resonate down through time. Let's consider them. The voice of God embedded in the Scripture. The Word of God. What is he speaking to you this morning? What is he speaking to me? What is he speaking to us as a church? As we listen and hear these opening verses of the Epistle to the Colosseum, to the Colossians. God is speaking.

I hear three main components, three main things to what he's saying, in this passage we heard read a minute ago. Or I should say, the passage we heard, proclaimed a minute ago.

Three main things: 
First is a greeting: Grace and Peace.  
Next, faith, hope and love, the foundation of Christian life. 
And thirdly, a litany of prayer for the building up of the church. 

Paul opens with a greeting, a greeting from God. Amen. A greeting from God. God is here this morning, and he wants to greet you as you come to Him. And how does he greet you and in this epistle, Grace to You, and peace, grace and peace to the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Ascension Anglican Church, to the saints and brothers, faithful brothers and sisters in Christ on Facebook livestream. Grace to you. Peace to you. From God, our Father God is speaking grace. Greetings. This is what the immediate thing that God says to us when we come into His presence: Grace, peace. The first thing that God is saying whenever we are listening to him, whenever we come to Him and we're talking about the Lord’s grace: you are accepted. Grace, whatever standard you're trying to measure up to just put them aside. I love you. Grace and unmerited favor. You don't have to earn my love. Grace enabling power, I will strengthen you with my grace. God is speaking grace to you this morning. Or maybe speaking peace. Welcome, greeting, peace, Shalom. Shalom is the peace that is not just like the absence of distraction and war or anxiety. It's an inner peace that that flows out over our whole lives, the whole being, spiritual peace, emotional peace, economic peace. Peace in the world. Peace. Be With You, as we say, all is well. Greetings. Peace be with you all is well. I am with you, says the Lord. Grace and peace, open the door. It's the greeting. You notice that Paul, or God, is often speaking this,  as Paul begins his letters, the first thing that we hear is grace and peace, they open the door and open our hearts to hear the word. That's the first thing that I hear this morning, God speaking in the Holy Word of God. Grace and peace is the first thing, the point of entry. 

And having opened the door, then Paul turns to the foundation of Christian life. Did you catch this? The foundation of our life as Christians: faith, love and hope. In our prayers for you, we always thank God, he says, for we have heard of your faith, of the love you have for all the saints. Because of the hope laid up for you in Heaven: faith, love and hope. Now you may have noticed up here in front every Sunday, we have a tripod set up that from which on top of the iPhone sits, which gives us a portal to the world so that the gospel and the worship of God can be broadcast out, proclaimed out throughout all the nations I mean, literally, that connects us to the entire world. Anyone in the whole world can connect and hear the Word of God, can hear God speaking through this live stream setup.

Three legs on the tripod, faith, hope and love. It takes all three to create a stable solid foundation to make the portal so that it can function so that it can live stream the gospel out to the world. It takes all three to make a solid base. In the same manner, faith, hope, love, create that solid base in our lives, in the life of the Church, which hold us up which turns us into a living stream - a living stream of God's Word to those around us and to the world. So that we can literally stream out the gospel, faith, hope and Love are the structure upon which we stand in the Christian life. 

Faith, and a very important distinction here, faith in Jesus Christ. Amen? 
There are lots of different faith options out there in the world today. And most of them are designed to take us away from faith in the One true Savior, Jesus Christ: the narrow door, the certain way, faith in Jesus, trust, surrender, acceptance of Jesus alone as Lord. That is the first leg of the tripod, though, upon which we stand. 

Love. Love for the saints and for one another. And that's biblical love Paul's talking about, that's the love that is giving, self-sacrificing, with care with concern, with compassion. It's the love that I see you living out day by day, week by week, here at Ascension, caring for one another, praying for one another, bearing one another's burdens, rejoicing with those who rejoice, weeping with those who weep.

Hope. And hope laid up in heaven. Hope that is not dependent upon anything in this world. You know, biblical hope is like of a different quality, a different characteristic than the hope in the world. It's not, it's not just like wishful thinking, like, I hope it rains again tomorrow. You know, that's kind of like, well, I wish it would rain again tomorrow, that'd be good. No, but when I say I have hope that Jesus Christ will return one day and rule on earth, that is substantial. Amen. I have hope that Jesus is in heaven right now praying and interceding. For me, for you. That is substantial. Real hope, that is hope that gives resilience that resonates to us from heaven. These three form the tripod, upon which our Christian life stands. 

And Paul is beginning in his letter to the Colossians first to acknowledge the tripod is strong. The base that you have is solid. The Colossians are “live streaming” the gospel. They are a living stream of the gospel to their generation. They just use a little different technology than we happen to have today. Paul is saying I see your faith in your love and your hope. He is  affirming the essentials, as we always need to pay attention to those three essentials in our own walk with God, in our life together as a community. So that we're not led astray to let our faith be pulled aside to some other gospel, or that our love grow cold, and turn self centered, or our hope be diminished, but remain strong as we have a strong foundation of our life together. So what comes next? And so we have this greeting. And then we have the essentials of the Christian faith. What is God saying to you this morning? God is speaking. 

What comes next is this wonderful example of what I would call prophetic prayer. Paul, the apostle, filled with the Holy Spirit, literally breathing out as we said, the Scripture that is going to now speak for generations. He turns to prayer. God is speaking. Paul is responding. He's entering the conversation with God in prayer. Paul is praying and God is speaking. What follows is a kind of litany of prayer then that just flows out line upon line, precept upon precept with spiritual nourishment and designed to enhance our life. You see there's a foundation that's been laid: love, faith and hope. And now Paul says Let us pray to build upon that foundation in our spiritual life.

A prayer that speaks to the Colossians, and a prayer that speaks to us. It's a prayer that we can make our own. Which brings me to my handout for today, all of you received in your service booklet, The prayer of Colossians. So, this was something that I did, years, years ago, looking at the prayers of Paul in his various epistles, and then basically just editing them to make them a personal prayer that you can pray for yourself. Or if you want to change the little italic pronouns there, we can pray for all of us together. Paul's prayer to the Colossians is a prayer that we can make our own. And think about what that does, we have this prophetic prayer, this breathed out by the Holy Spirit. Now, if we begin to pray it, we're taking it. We're breathing it in, and then we're breathing it back out to God. We’re oxygenizing our spiritual lives and, and being filled with the Spirit. We're entering into that conversation then with God. So I think it's very fascinating to note, what are the things that Paul prays for? When I got to this point, I thought, well, what are the things that I pray for? In my garden with my coffee every morning. I'm like, Lord, I pray for a good day and pray for a good harvest from my crops and then pray and you know, I mean, I'm not diluting belittling my prayers, I pray for all of you. I pray for needs, and I will think yeah, I've got it pretty good, I've got a good prayer life going. But this time around, when I began to look at what Paul was praying for. I just kind of thought, wow, you know, holy moly. What if I was praying for these things? How are my prayers lined up with his prayers?

So let's, let's take a moment and walk through this prayer and ask yourself, which one of these do I need most? These things of this litany that Paul gives us, which one of these do you need most? Just listen, what is God speaking to you? What is he saying to you in this prayer, as we come into it? In the epistle, Paul says, Epaphras, the faithful minister of Christ, has made known to us your love in the Spirit. For this reason, we have not ceased praying for you. 
​

Asking that you'd be filled with a knowledge of God's will. Now there's a prayer that's been resonating with me since I was writing the sermon. I just started praying, Lord, I pray to be filled with the knowledge of your will. It's like, Whoa, I just feel the Spirit just go right into my bones. For spiritual wisdom and understanding, let's just let the Litany roll here.

Which one is God calling you to, which one do you need in your life? What is he saying to you? 

• Spiritual wisdom and understanding that we will lead lives pleasing to the Lord. 
• Bearing fruit in every good work. 
• We grow in the knowledge of God made strong and the strength of His glory is power. 
• Prepared to endure everything with patience. Oh my. I'm staying on that one. 
• Prepared to endure everything with patience. Yes, Lord. I may be prepared to endure but I don't have that patience part. 
• Joyfully, giving thanks to the Father.
• Enabled to share the inheritance rescued from the power of darkness, transferred into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption through forgiveness of sins. 

Are these the things that you naturally pray for in the morning?

See Paul, breathing out the word of God, God speaking to us, is directing us to grow your life. To grow from the foundation of the Christian life, into vibrancy. You know, we proclaim our vision that we would become a vibrant church family that honors and glorifies God, a place of healing, serving and growing together in Christ. Lord, fill us with a knowledge of your will. That we may bear fruit and every good work we joyfully give thanks you, oh, Lord. Is there a one line or two that really stands out to you?

What is God speaking to you? What do you need most in your life as a Christian at this moment, spiritual wisdom and understanding? Or perhaps it's to be strengthened with God's glorious power? We need that strength, don't we, as we go through the trials and the tribulations and the sorrows and the losses and the confusion of this world?

Are there one or two that resonate with you? Well, the good news is that we don't have to choose one, we can pray for all of them. Amen. Yes, we can pray for all of them. You're not limited here. You get the whole enchilada, the whole smorgasbord is available, laid out to you and to me to be able to pray. We can pray for them while engaging in conversation with God in joining with this prophetic prayer of Paul. God is speaking - a profound and simple truth. He spoke the beginning; he spoke to the prophets. He spoke through the living word Jesus. And he spoke through the apostles to the Holy Spirit and breathed out his word. His voice is literally embedded in the Holy Scripture. Words from heaven, the voice of God, what is God saying to you today? What is God saying to me today? To us?

He's inviting us to join in the conversation, I think, praying the prayer of Colossians. For ourselves, or our families, for our church. What will happen? If we all pray this prayer, every day, for a week? What will happen? I'd like to find out, I'd like to see what happens. How about you? Your midsummer spiritual assignment is to pray the prayer of Colossians every day, for one week. And observe what happens within your own spiritual life. What's happening in the life of your family, and what's happening in the life of our church? Let's find out as we pray the prayer daily. Only when you pray the prayer of Colossians, don't rush. Take your time. As you pray, give time also to listen. And remember that profound and simple truth. God is speaking.

What is he saying to you? As we pray, don't rush. Enter into the conversation in prayer. Pray, listen and hear. Do what God is saying to you in this week ahead. Amen. 

Let us pray. Father, we pray that we may be filled with a knowledge of your will; grant us spiritual wisdom and understanding. We pray that we might walk in a manner that is worthy of you, Lord, fully pleasing you, being fruitful and every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Strengthen us, oh Lord with all power, according to your glorious mind, and grant us patience and endurance with joy. We give thanks to You, Father, for in you, I'm qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. You have delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of your beloved Son, in whom we have redemption and forgiveness of all our sins. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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.’ 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 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, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 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.’
The Ascension of Jesus50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

KEY TOPICS
Christ's ascension, Jesus Christ, Ascension Sunday, God's presence, exalted Jesus, man in heaven, Christ in heaven, time to pray, just pray, completing God's plan of salvation, part of Easter, disciples of Christ, Holy Spirit

Let us pray. Lord, once again we pray and we ask that even as you were lifted up into the heavens on that day, and as you sit at the right hand of God, the Father interceding for us now, pray for us, Lord, that we too can be lifted up into Your presence into the glory and exultation of your throne. In our hearts and our minds and our spirits, even in our physical bodies, Lord, we pray, lift us up in this day, in your holy name, Amen. Please be seated. 

A wonderful thought is to be lifted up, above all that kind of clamor, darkness and muck and mire of this world. 

Well, good morning once again. Good morning, and welcome to Ascension Sunday, Ascension Sunday. Thank you, Lord. This is our special feast day. Because we are Ascension Anglican Church. We are named for this feast; named for this Sunday. Well, technically liturgically, this is the seventh Sunday of Easter, the last Sunday of the Easter season. And technically it's the Sunday called the Sunday after the ascension. Because as you may be aware, the actual Feast Day of Ascension, always falls on a Thursday, 40 days following the celebration of Easter. Forty in the Scripture always signifies the fullness of time, the completeness of everything that needs to take place. So Jesus' ascension comes after he's resurrected from the dead and that fresh open that new life comes forth. He spends the complete fullness amount of time that is needed to be with his disciples, to complete the work that he had come to do here on Earth. And then he ascends back into heaven. 

So the actual Feast Day for Ascension was last Thursday and always comes just prior to the end to the completion of the Easter season and the celebration of Pentecost, which is next Sunday. So just before we go to Pentecost, as Easter ends, the ascension takes place. But because of this, because the the ascension is kind of sandwiched in between Easter and Pentecost, the significance of the ascension is often missed, I think. As the church focuses on the grand events at the resurrection of Jesus, Easter bursting forth from the tomb. And then next, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, empowering the disciples to be God's witnesses throughout the earth, establishing the church, as the church is focused on the resurrection and on the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the Ascension just can become a little blip on the radar, a blip on the calendar going by, especially since it comes during the week, on a Thursday. For my friends, the significance of the ascension should never be missed. It cannot be understated. 

Let me quote from my dictionary of biblical theology. You guys have that on your shelf, right--a little light reading in the evening, the dictionary of biblical theology regarding the ascension. The Ascension is not only a great fact of the New Testament, but a great factor in the life of Christ, and of Christians. No complete view of Jesus Christ is possible without it. Without the inclusion of the ascension and its consequences. It is the consummation of his redemptive work, is the completion of God's work of salvation. The Christ of the Gospels is the Christ of history, the Christ of the past. But the full picture of the New Testament is the living Christ, the Christ of Heaven. The Christ that's seated at the right hand of the Father, the Christ that ascended there, present, and future. All this depends on what? The ascension.

It all depends on the the ascension. 

So the significance of the ascension should never be missed. Perhaps that's why God named us Ascension Anglican, you know, there aren't very many Ascension Anglicans around. I mean, we're all here, but in your churches. If you look in the church, you know, Anglican Church directories, you just there just aren't any. There are some churches of the of the ascension. But I Ascension Anglican is our particular name. God named us that way, I think because he doesn't want us to miss the significance of the ascension. And he wants us to embody, to represent the significance to the church and to the world. So that we may grow in understanding so that the world may also see and think, What is this ascension? Why, why is this so important? We are the people of the ascension. The community of faith is designated--that's our identity. God has written ascension in our hearts. Amen. He's written it on our forehead, like they say in Revelation, they write his name on our forehead. He's put it on our signs, he's embedded it into our identity. 

How do you identify with that? I'm curious, I'd like to hear. We've been Ascension Anglican for many years now. How has God formed you into that identity? What does the ascension mean to you? Or what special characteristics? You know In the Bible, we were talking the other night about this about names when someone is named in the Holy Scripture. There's deep significance to that. The name describes the character, describes the nature, sometimes the calling, the purpose that God has given to that person. Even we see names changed, like Abram to Abraham, the father of the nations, or Jacob, which literally means schemer, heel grabber to Israel, the one who leans on, depends on God. 

God has named us Ascension, what sort of characteristics, sort of things is he working in you? As people have the Ascension, I think it's good for us to reflect on that, isn't it? So join with me also this morning then in reflecting on some of these characteristics, some of the themes of the ascension that we may also grow in our own identity as the people of the ascension. So first, we're gonna think about the actual event of the ascension. 

The ascension is an event. It's a part of the drama of salvation history that concludes Jesus' time here on Earth. Secondly, I want to think about the spiritual principle of a sending, or a ascent, which is found running throughout the Holy Scripture. And you often hear me pray this way or say things like this, like we are ascending the holy mountain, who shall stand in the presence of the Lord, those who ascend up into his blessing, into His presence. So the event of the ascension, the spiritual principle, the discipline of ascending, ascension is discipleship. And then lastly, our own ministry here at Ascension. As we bring that ascending message that ascending grace, as we reflect that, shine that out into the world, shine it out onto Facebook and beyond to our community around us. So you might have noticed this morning that I, took a little pastoral prerogative, first my scripture reference here. Pastoral prerogative, and for this morning, I actually took a step back and used the scripture readings from the actual Feast Day of Ascension, because in these scriptures, we have the actual event, the story of Jesus' ascension taking place. 

So first and foremost, the the the ascension is an event of great significance. As I said, it completes God's plan of salvation--completes the conclusion of Jesus's earthly ministry here as he brought the kingdom of God, as he brought the Gospel as he came to redeem us. And if we track it through, you know, we always, we're gonna say in just a few minutes here, in the Holy Eucharist, "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again." Those are all great events of salvation history. But there's one that's missing. Remember, we did a little blip in there as we were going past, from Easter to the return of Christ. 

Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ has ascended. Then Christ will come again. Christ is ascended--then the Holy Spirit is poured out. Christ is ascended. He can't return until he first goes back to heaven. Christ is born, I think we could add that and often think at Christmas time, it's like, well, we're kind of missing the fact that Christ was born. Now, Jesus, the eternal Son of God began in the heavens, he was actually the agent of creation that created all that we see, all that we are. He's the head of the church, he began with God, in the creation, and as we rebelled and fell and had no way to get back to God. Then he came, he came down, he descended first, he descended to be among us, he was born, he gathered up our sins, absorbed them on the cross, He was resurrected from the dead. He overcame. He came to redeem us, to gather us, and then to take us back into heaven. In the event of the ascension, our humanity is redeemed back into the presence of God. 

There's a man in heaven! See, there it is, look up there. What if they had ancient newscasters, right? And newscasters could go back, you know? "That's right, we're here today and Jesus has just ascended. There's a man in heaven! News at 11."

Don't miss the significance of that. Our humanity now is in the presence of living man human Jesus, redeemed man is now in the presence of God. He can stand in the Holy of Holies, in the holy presence of God without fear. He's redeemed, and he brings us also to be redeemed. There's a man in heaven returned to be with God. Adam fell, he descended Christ ascends. He redeems our humanity and takes us home. That's where we're going, my friends. Jesus said, "In my Father's house, there are many mansions. And I'm going to prepare a place for you." Well, he could have said, "I'm ascending there to prepare a place for you." And if I ascend there, then I will come and get you. And you will ascend there to dwell with God. It's a homecoming. The Ascension results in our homecoming. 

Jenny was at a conference, Daughters of Holy Cross, recently, and Bishop Mark Lawrence was there. And he got on to talking about the ascension. And this is what he said. He said, "The Ascension is our homecoming. The ascension is the most vital thing. Jesus did everything. He accomplished everything. But the the final step was he took us home, he took our humanity home." And I think he told the story about actually a baby being born. And first opening his eyes and it was so bright, he could hardly open the eyes. But then the father was standing by there, and the baby recognize the father's voice, because after all the babies can hear in the womb. And he turned to us looked at isn't that right? And he said, This is what the ascension is. We're gonna you know, it'll be so glorious that we'll be trying to get our eyes open but then we will hear our father's  voice! We will hear our father's voice because we will be home. The journey is not finished until the plan of salvation is not complete without the ascension. Jesus cannot return, come again without first ascending. The Holy Spirit, the promise of the Holy Spirit could not be fulfilled, cannot be realized until Jesus ascended. He said to the disciples, it's expedient that I ascend because if I don't, the Holy Spirit won't come. And here at the event of the ascension, then, is the promise given a certified to wait because the power of the Spirit is coming next week. Next week, it's coming on Pentecost. The good news is not complete without this final ascension, this event into the presence of God. 

This is the gospel. We are destined to come home, to be home with God, to join Jesus there where we will see God and see him face to face. Jesus's ascends and this event, the completion of God's plan of salvation. There's a man in heaven now and makes possible the coming of the Holy Spirit. He concludes his earthly ministry. 

And the other part that is really clear in Scripture about the the ascension is that in this event, Jesus is exalted. He is exalted. And we hear that in our reading from Ephesians, the immeasurable power that towards those who believe he worked in Christ, when he raised Him from the dead, and ascended him is seated at the right hand and heavenly places. Now, Jesus is glorified. He is exalted. He is in his next state of being, as King of kings and Lord of lords over all the world, all the universe. He exalted, far above all rule, authority, power, dominion, and every name that is named -- not only in this age, but in the one to come.

He put all things under his feet, and gave him his head of all things to come to and head over all the church. So in this event, then, God's plan of salvation, Jesus' ministry is completed, and he's exalted into heaven. So the ascension is an event. Ascension also embodies a biblical principle, one that we try to walk in. One that I would encourage us to lay hold of, on this Ascension Sunday--the biblical principle of ascending, of ascent, making our ascent to God. That's the journey isn't it? I've often said that the journey through this world is the journey of becoming who God has created us to be. It's the journey of becoming our true identity. It's a journey of becoming the the name of the white stone that God will, the Lord will give to each one of you when we stand before him. Your character, your nature, it's a journey of ascending, ascending out of this slogging along and slogging through the mud and the blood and the confusion and the lies and the sin and the whole cauldron that you know, the sea of confusion that has gripped this world. And the climb. Climb up. Those of you who have climbed up in the Sierras, you know what I'm talking about? Doug Starr, my good friend, he took us on a journey of ascent. He climbed up higher into the mountains. As you climb, what did he find? The air was fresh, water pure, fragrance of the pines. All God's creation in splendor around him--closer into the presence of God. 

In a similar manner we in our spiritual lives, we are called, Jesus calling us, "Come up here come higher." To climb up. To leave our sinful ways to breathe the clear air, to to purify our thoughts and our hearts from all the pollution. To ascend is spiritual principle. It's a spiritual discipline, Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord, who shall stand in his holy mountain? The one who has clean hands, and a pure heart. If you have been raised then with Christ, set your thoughts on things above. Let your thoughts ascend to things above where Christ is. 

Jesus is lifted up in the Gospel, and in the Gospel of Luke he is he is lifted up, lifted up into the heavens. And as followers of Jesus one day we will also be lifted up out of this world into His presence. So the ascension calls us as the people of ascension to live it, you know, and it was a principle of ascend, of being lifted up, to rise up above the fray, to rise up above our sinful natures, to rise up our natural inclinations to you know, get in there and do what we think we should do. Hhave you ever experienced that? It's not easy to get up above the fray is it? Can you think of a time when you were like, just lifted up and you just stayed above the fray? And in doing that you had brought God's presence and His kingdom into whatever situation? Not long ago, I went to Rite Aid because I had to get a prescription. And I came in and I thought, "Oh, great. There's no line. I'm the only one." But when I got to the little footprints, there where to stand on little footprints and wait. Then I realized there was another man in front of me at the counter. And he was just railing against the pharmacy girl that was there. "I want my prescription!!!" And she's going well, I'm sorry. But you know, you can't get this filled until, you know, for another week, because it's a controlled substance, and you can't get it until then." "Well, you've got it all wrong. What's the matter with you incompetent people? I want to say the pharmacist!" 

So all of a sudden, I'm thinking, "This guy's out of control. I better step in there and tell him, hey, you need to shut up my friend."

I don't know, you know, I might not be such a good. Oh, and he's just just berating the staff. And I'm just like, "Where's security?" Then, "No, you don't need to jump into the fray. You need to be above the fray." I mean, I wasn't thinking that at the time. But I just feel like God said, "Just pray. And you know, I have people here who have authority here, and they're gonna deal with it you know. So I just began to pray. And then pretty soon he's like, "Oh, I'm out of here. If you guys can't do this for me," and he stomps out. I'm next in line. And they're just like, I mean, you know how it is, when you run into something like that the poor, you know, the little girl and the pharmacist woman there. "You guys really handled that well. Bless you. That was really difficult. I just pray that God will lift you up." And it was an opportunity. And as I thought about this sermon, this one I thought, you know, what was happening there was I was inviting them to ascend up above all of that conflict and all that mess and those lies that were thrown. And I was able to pray and say, Lord, I pray, Lord, bless them, restore them, lift them up into your presence. And you could just see the countenance just go, Ah, this guy's not gonna yell at us like the last guy. 

My friends, that is that discipline that God calls us to live in. To live above the fray, lift it up. That's our destiny. I've been saying, you know, we're on the way to the resurrection. We're also on the way to the ascension. We will all one day ascend. Either when we die and we complete this journey we'll ascend into God's presence then, or will ascend when Jesus returns and we see him in the sky, and we all, Paul says, are lifted up. We ascend up into the air. 

As disciples, as followers of Jesus, we are making our ascent, Amen. Upward into holiness, repentance and holiness, climbing the holy mountain, step by step, day by day; and if we slip and fall back down always, then we get back up and Jesus helps us and we begin again. Climbing closer into the presence of God. 

We are making our ascent when we set our minds on His Word. We are making our ascent when we set aside time to pray. We are making ascent when we reach out with compassion. When we preach the gospel, we are making our ascent and when we come into His presence in the Holy Sacrament.

How will you be following Jesus in this week ahead? Where will you be ascending? Where is he is calling you to ascend? We make our ascent when we decide we're going to come to church. And maybe it's been a long time, and it's really scary. But we ascend up, and God gives us our grace, gives us grace to be here. 

So the ascension is an event. Ascension is a spiritual principle that has now become part of our very identity, our ministry, it's a way of life, my friends, a way, a mode of being. The significance of the ascension cannot be missed. It cannot be understated. That's why God named us Ascension Anglican. He's calling us to live in that state of being lifted up, growing closer to God. It's our calling our identity. It's the name that God has written upon our hearts. You have ascension in your hearts. As we gather on this Ascension Sunday, we embody that event and we display that principle. And we bring to mind we bring them to mind and we show them like I did, that on that moment in the pharmacy, we show that it's possible to live lifted up above this world. Because Jesus has ascended into heaven. He has redeemed our humanity and taken us home. And one day, we will all follow Jesus. We will all ascend there as well. 

My final thought here this morning on this Ascension Sunday, something that really I noticed for the first time in reading in reading the Gospel, and the story of Jesus' ascension, he gathers the disciples, he's completing his time with them. He's giving them His Word. He's explained to them everything's fulfilled, the law the prophets, all's done. He's telling them instructions, wait for the promise of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is coming. And then he leads them out as far as Bethany and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. He blessed them. There's a special blessing that takes place in the ascension, a blessing that he gives to His disciples as he's lifted up. He leaves he's leaving them with this blessing. And what does that blessing do? They worship Him. And they return in great joy. And they're continually in the temple, praising God. On this Ascension Sunday, I pray, Lord, that we would receive the blessing of the ascension, that we may continue with great joy and worship in your holy temple. 

God has written the ascension in our hearts. It is our homecoming. It is where we're going. So in the days ahead, let us all live then. Let's live as the people of Ascension Anglican. Let's live with ascension in our hearts, that the world may see and come to know Jesus as the exalted, ascended, Lord of Glory seated at the right hand of the Father. Until that day when we also make our own ascension and join him there. Until that day, let us live in the final blessing of the ascension. Amen. 

Let's pray. Lord, we pray and ask for the blessing of The ascension to be upon us today that that blessing would give grace and mercy and cause us to be lifted up, lifted up above the fray, lifted up above our own sins, our own guilt, shame, the things that hold the things that try to drag us down, Lord, that they will be cut off and we would receive this blessing. The Lord bless you on this Ascension Day, this Ascension Sunday. Amen.