It’s Ascension Sunday, Jerusalem Sunday, Day 4 of “Thy Kingdom Come,” a Triple C Service, and our annual Grad Celebration. Ascension Sunday is one of the major festivals of the Church Year – the Sunday after Jesus was taken up into Heaven, and we along with him. Jerusalem Sunday is the day the National Church has set aside for us to pray for God’s mission of love and peace to be fulfilled in the Diocese of Jerusalem. “Thy Kingdom Come “ is the international prayer initiative, in which, during the 11 days between Ascension and Pentecost, we follow the example of the first disciples, and seek to be open to a fresh infilling to better serve the world.; in this period of time, we're invited to lift up in prayer 5 family members, friends, or colleagues who don't know the love of Jesus for themselves. Our Triple C Services, which usually occur on the fourth Sundays of the month, are Christ-centred Creative Celebrations, in which we expand our experience of worship with material from many Christian traditions from all over the world And our Grad Celebration is the Service occurring once a year in which we honour Grads from Pre-School to Doctorate levels, praying for God’s blessings to be lavished upon them, and giving them small tokens of the place they have in our hearts.
Look for all these themes to be reflected throughout our Liturgy by special material, including 3 videos - a Children’s Time “Cheeky Pandas” video; a video of the Archbishop of Canterbury in our Reflection; and a video of the Archbishop of Jerusalem in our Prayers.
We’re blessed to have Norman and Betty assisting; our Choir in-person to share an anthem and lead us in 8 congregational Hymns; John M. on video sharing our First Reading from N. T. Wright’s Kingdom Translation; and Stacy on audio all the way from New Brunswick leading our Prayers, including an Ascension Day Litany from Deacon Ormonde Plater in the US, and a Prayer in a Time of Violence from the United Church of Canada. And we’re most blessed to share Holy Communion together, physically or spiritually, feeding by faith with thanksgiving on the One who laid down his life for us, so that we may be drawn up into his life always. When our Liturgy ends, the service begins, with a “Sending” forth into the world to share, in word and in deed, the Good News of the life and love of our Risen and Ascended Lord.
Today’s Service of Holy Eucharist was livestreamed on our main Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/stpaulscalgary) at 9:30 am. Today's video is posted in three parts on our YouTube Channel, and the links are added here. To watch this service in full screen mode, please click on the “Watch on YouTube” button in the lower left-hand corner of the video. Please download the Order of Service in the Sermon Notes above if you would like to follow along. If you are sharing this Service online and don’t have Reserved Sacrament, you are invited to say the Prayer for Communion for those receiving Spiritual Communion also available above.
Permission to reprint, podcast, and/or stream the music in this service obtained from:
(a) ONE LICENSE with license # A-713985, and/or
(b) CCLI with Streaming License # 20351479.
All rights reserved.