Sunday 24th May 2020 – Ascension Sunday and Aldersgate Rev Andrew Prout
Welcome
Welcome to our worship for this week. We are grateful to Hilary Ros and Chris for reading this week.
Sources of readings and images together with their copyrights are located at the bottom of the page.
Please click the triangle to the left of each soundbar to hear that section.
Hymn 1 – STF 354 – Jesus is the name we honour
Prayers of Adoration and Confession
Collect
Eternal God, you have given all authority in heaven and earth to your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Grant that we may never lose the vision of your kingdom, but serve you with hope and joy; through Him who is lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Old Testament Reading: Psalm 24: 1-10
(A Psalm of David)
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
2 for he founded it on the seas
and established it on the waters.
3 Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
4 The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not trust in an idol
or swear by a false god.
5 They will receive blessing from the Lord
and vindication from God their Saviour.
6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, God of Jacob.
7 Lift up your heads, you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
8 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
the Lord mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
10 Who is he, this King of glory?
The Lord Almighty—
he is the King of glory. (NIV)
Hymn 2 – STF 331 – King of kings, majesty
New Testament Reading: Acts 1:1-11
Jesus taken up to Heaven
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (NIV)
Extract from John Wesley’s Journal: 24th May 1738
In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. I began to pray with all my might for those who had in a more especial manner despitefully used me and persecuted me. I then testified openly to all there what I now first felt in my heart.
Hymn 3 – STF 347 – Crown Him with many crowns
Sermon
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession
Hymn 4 – STF – Our Father in heaven
Introduction to Final Hymn
Hymn 5 – STF 345 – And can it be
The Blessing
The Blessing (Kids)
Copyrights
Bible Reading from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Image of John Wesley is Public Domain
Image of the Ascension – Campi, Antonio. Mysteries of the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ (detail), from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56523 [retrieved May 23, 2020]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mhbishop/7061390583/.
Images in Our Father YouTube video are by Chris H.
All other images (including those in Jesus is the name we honour video and King of kings, majesty) sourced from Pixabay.com and are Creative Commons – Commercial use no attribution.
CCL: 4495
Streaming: 989812