Ascension Sunday

Good morning, Cheviot Churches! This is Colin, and I hope everyone is staying well and keeping both safe and sane. We have our service today for Ascension Sunday and we are invited to embrace the breadth and depth of God’s vision for the whole of creation.
 
Notices:

• The podcast of this service can be accessed on the Podcast page of the website, or by clicking HERE.
• The Roots material for today can be accessed HERE.
• Kathleen, our prayer convenor, sends out a prayer letter by email every week. If anyone wishes to receive it, please let Kathleen know at [email protected]. Also, if there are any prayer requests, please let Kathleen know.
• The Moderator has encouraged us to be involved in the ‘Thy Kingdom come’ prayer initiative, which runs from Ascension to Pentecost. The prayer journal offers a reflection for each of the days - click HERE to find out more.
• Many of us will remember Marian McIntyre, the Guild National President, who led a joint service in Yetholm last September. She has now completed her year, and you can access her reflections on the Guild Facebook page.
• Trish is our eco-church rep and forwarded their monthly newsletter tome, which is full of good information. You can sign up for the newsletter on their website - HERE.
• If anyone without internet access would like a hard copy of any of the above links, please get in touch.

 
Call to Worship
We know you and we do not know you
YOU ARE MYSTERIOUS AND FULL OF JOY
You know us and you understand us
 YOU ARE LOVING AND FULL OF TRUTH
You welcome us and you live in us
 YOU ARE HOLY AND FULL OF HOPE
Let us worship God
 
Hymn 438 – The head that once was crowned with thorns (vv 1,2,6)
 
Prayer
God of majesty and might,
your glory shines throughout the universe:
from the highest heaven to the deepest sea;
in all the creatures you have made;
in the seasons that shape our living.
Your glory shines through who you are
and through what you do.
The power of your glory
touches your creation and exalts it.
To you we offer our worship;
to you we offer our praise;
before you we come in adoration.
 
Lord Jesus,
you are greater than we can ever imagine,
before all, beyond all, in all and over all.
Forgive us for losing sight of your greatness and for underestimating the breadth of your love;
for tying you down to the things of this earth rather than opening our hearts to the breadth of your vision for the whole of creation.
 
Forgive us for our short sightedness
and call us to the down-to-earth message
of Your love,
to care for the needs of those around us,
especially the oppressed and marginalized.
Broaden our vision, enlarge our understanding and kindle our imagination, that we might glimpse your glory and work more faithfully for your kingdom.
 
People of God, know that you are forgiven and loved by the God who made the earth and who made you,
Go, share the Good News.
 
Lord’s Prayer
 
Reading: Acts 1: 6-11 Luke 24: 50-53
 
Reflective Reading
A cloud? A bit dramatic wasn’t it, Jesus? A bit over the top!
Hands raised. Floating heavenwards …… And I’ll lay odds that future artists will dress you in shining white, and paint the sky deep blue – to ‘match’ your eyes. OK – so there were some precedents: Elijah and his chariots and that fiery cloudy pillar thing that moved around the wilderness; but those were the old ways – you aren’t like that.
Is this really what you want us to remember about you, Jesus? That you disappeared in a cloud and that you now live somewhere above the skies, way beyond our reach?
What about your stories, your friendship; your tears, your pain, your laughter?
What about the way you believed in us, trusted us, sent us out to teach and heal?
I’m not sure that you being alive somewhere where we cannot see you, talk with you, laugh and cry with you, is going to be much help to us, Jesus.
Please, can’t you find a way of living with us, close enough somehow for us to know that you’re near?
You said something once about a Spirit, a holy Spirit from God, who would come to us. Does that mean you’re coming back to us?
And if you are – no dramatics this time, please Jesus. Just come back to us quietly … No more clouds! (Ruth Burgess)
 
Hymn 439 (vv 1,4)– Look ye saints
 
Now we have our weekly prayer from Arthur and Kathleen:
Almighty God, may our prayers ascend to you just as Jesus Christ, your son, was taken up to heaven.  As we celebrate the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus let it inspire in us feelings of joy and hope rather than fear and separation as we await the coming of the Holy Spirit. Amen
 
Reflection
Last weekend should have been the Eurovision Song Contest. Needless to say, it didn’t take place, but instead there were a few programmes about Eurovision, one of which featured the acts who would have performed this year from 40 odd countries under the theme ‘Love shine a light’, which apparently was a winning UK song!! Having been abroad for the last 25 years and Eurovision-less, I had a lot of catching up to do, as all these songs had somehow passed me by. But what really struck me was that everyone in Europe has been affected by Coronavirus, but that there was tremendous goodwill and a sense of togetherness with people from so many countries: that we were all in it together and working together to send a light that we will not be defeated.
 
I thought it was a powerful message at the start of Mental Health week, for our mental health has disturbed by the lockdown, by not being able to see loved ones, by uncertainty about the future.
 
We are in the last Sunday of this season of Easter. The mental health of the disciples must have been disturbed by the events of the crucifixion, but the Risen Lord had come to them, encouraged them, walked beside them. It couldn’t last. There had to be a break, and Christ had prepared them, promising the Spirit would be there to support them. That break would come at the Ascension, and today is Ascension Sunday.
 
Luke in the reading from Acts pictures Christ going into the sky, and in Linton Church, and indeed in Hoselaw, we have a stained-glass window of the ascended Christ, with the disciples, including the women, gazing up in wonder. As a child of the 60s I had always a picture of Jesus rocketing into the sky. But this was Luke’s way of saying that the break had come. Luke’s way of saying ‘Now, it is going to be different’. A new normality for the disciples, you might say, with no going back to the old ways.
 
When Jesus was with them, the disciples grew accustomed to him being there – he became too familiar, part of the furniture. They had to learn to stand on their own feet and, yes, make their mistakes, but always living their lives in love in and through him.
 
I love the two men in white in Acts, scolding the disciples for gazing at the sky after Jesus and saying ‘Get on with it. There is work to be done, a broken world to be healed’. In his Gospel, Luke has the disciples saying their goodbyes to Jesus, but returning to Jerusalem ‘with great joy’, their sleeves rolled up for the work.
 
Jesus is no longer with the disciples physically, but is there spiritually, through the Holy Spirit. No longer bound to 1st Century Palestine, but alive in the here and now and able to speak to us in the here and now of Coronavirus Britain.
 
And that is another theme for Ascension. The disciples were commissioned to take the Gospel message, not just to home area Galilee, but to ‘Judaea and Samaria and to the end of the earth’. They were being given a broad vision and so had to let go of their old life in Galilee, their narrow way of thinking, that they could receive the Spirit, empowering them to a new expansive vision, which took in all the world.
 
We can be preoccupied with our own situation, but God is always challenging us to look beyond and shine the light of love with compassion and kindness in our own community, but even to all the world. For we are all connected. Amen
 
This is the time in our service when we would usually give our offering, and do remember the church at this time.
Eternal and ever-present God, we offer you these gifts in thanksgiving for the work of Christ in our lives. Bless them and us with the power of the Spirit, enlisting all our gifts for the work of reconciliation Christ has given us to do in the world you love. Amen.

Prayers of Intercession
You are free, Lord,
your Ascension has set you free:
free from the constraints of human existence,
outside the limitations of time and space;
free to be here with us now,
in our worship and fellowship;
and free to be with us always;
for in your freedom
you have bound yourself to us with a promise:
“Lo! I am with you always
even to the very end of time.”
 
God of creation, stretch our imagination to share your vision of a world in balance and harmony. Help us to care for our environment, to repair the damage we have done and to live sustainably in the future.
 
God of all nations, expand our horizon to include your whole human family, in your web of belonging. Help us to build bridges of trust, so that we may resolve conflicts that divide us and to live peaceably with all. May the leaders of nations follow your ways of justice. Guide their way through the challenges of this pandemic. Protect all politicians and advisors from sickness and burn-out. Despite our own needs, keep us mindful of the needs of others, especially refugees and prisoners.
A brief silence.
O God, incline your ear to us:
Make haste to deliver us.
 
Be with those who are sick, sorrowful, or suffering from mental health issues. Comfort them in suffering, ease their distress, and carry their burdens. Be a strong presence with all who mourn.
A brief silence.
O God, incline your ear to us:
make haste to deliver us.
 
Protect and inspire all who work on the frontline, all the nurses and doctors, cleaners and porters in hospitals, the staff and the residents in our care homes and all who are active in making our lives more bearable at present time.
A brief silence.
O God, incline your ear to us:
Make haste to deliver us.
 
We pray at this time of financial turmoil,
for those who have lost jobs,
those who struggle to pay bills,
those who fear the future
and those who have the power to affect positive change. [Silence]
O God, incline your ear to us:
Make haste to deliver us.
 
Silence for own prayers
 
We remember before you for all who have died in the faith, those struck down by the coronavirus, and those whom we name now in our hearts.
A brief silence.
At the end, bring us all to you, who are our way, our truth, and our life. Amen
 
Hymn 441 (vv1,2,5) – Blessing and honour
 
Benediction
May God renew our faith, restore our vision and redirect our actions, that we may follow God into new adventures, and may the blessing of God Almighty, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, be with you and with all whom you love, wherever they may be, now and evermore, Amen
 
Blessing 786 – May the God of peace go with us