Ascension Sunday – 5/24/20


A Job To Do – Acts 1.6-14
Available Here
To support Cokesbury financially, you can give online here: http://cokesburyumc.church/about/

GATHERING

Prayer:
Lord, you give us the joy of celebrating Easter again and again throughout this season. Give us also the joys of life in your service, and bring us at last to the full joy of life eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Announcements:
In keeping with Governor Northam and Bishop Lewis, we will not be gathering in-person so long as there is a risk for those who would come to church. We at Cokesbury, and the United Methodist Church in Virginia, are still discerning whether or not this is the right course of action in the present moment. Particularly considering that the zip-code surrounding Cokesbury has the highest number of cases of any zip-code in the state.
We will keep everyone updated as to our plans going forward and we will continue to provide online worship until it is safe for us to gather together in person again.
Our primary concern is the safety and well-being of our immediate community.
Until we are back together in person, online giving can be made on our About page on the church website, cokesburyumc.church which will be linked in the video description for live worship as well as checks through the mail.
We’ve been sending out regular emails from the church about opportunities for online Bible Studies, devotionals, prayer requests, and updates on our local community. If you are not receiving those emails, and would like to, please send an email to cokesburyumc@gmail.com

Hymn 249 – Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in his wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of his glory and grace.

Prayer:
Lord, by you the meek are guided in judgment and light rises up in the darkness for the ungodly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you would have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from false choices, and that in your light we may see light, and in your path may not stumble…

And as you taught us, so now we pray… Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

PROCLAIMING

Scripture: Acts 1.6-14:
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 time 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. When 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.” Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.

Hymn 64 – Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty
V1. Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!
V2. Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea,
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
Which wert, and art, and every more shalt be.
V3. Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee,
Though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see,
Only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
Perfect in power, in love and purity.
V4. Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity.

Sermon: A Job To Do

RESPONDING

Prayer:
Grant, we pray, Lord, that as your Son ascended into heaven, we may also in heart and mind ascend there as well, and with Him continually dwell. Give us the strength to confess and the know the Lordship of the One who reigns with you, now and forever such that we might see how our truest citizenship is in heaven. Amen.

Offering – Reminder for online giving, through the mail, or the drop slot at the church.

Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord: who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

On The Power Of Laughter:
C.S. Lewis wrote in The Screwtape Letters that the one thing the devil could not endure was being laughed at. The unquenchable joy of Christians, even in the midst of something like our present circumstances, is one of the most remarkable things to ever exist. We know how the stories end, which means we’ve been freed from all sorts of shackles the we, and the world, have put on us. It means we can laugh, because we’ve got the best news of all.
So, this week, find a way to laugh. Spin an old comedy record on your dust covered turntable, or search on YouTube for your favorite comedian, or turn on your favorite Mel Brooks movie – do something, anything, to make yourself laugh this week. For, as Karl Barth once put it, “Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.”

SENDING FORTH

Blessing and Benediction