{"id":511740,"date":"1998-05-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1998-05-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-08-02T11:01:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T15:01:47","slug":"his-power-our-heart-and-our-mind-ascension-day-1998","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/sermons\/his-power-our-heart-and-our-mind-ascension-day-1998\/","title":{"rendered":"His Power: Our Heart and Our Mind, Ascension Day – 1998"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Collect:<\/strong>
Grant we pray, Almighty God, that as we believe your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into heaven, so we may also with heart and mind there ascend, and with him continually dwell; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWait in the city until you receive power from on high. He blessed them, was parted from them and carried into heaven.\u201d<\/strong>
(Luke 24:49, 51)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ascension of Jesus Christ is critical to the life\u2014belief\u2014and work of the Christian community! To better understand our Gospel, we need to first place it in context with what happened earlier in the Upper Room. The disciples were terrified and afraid when they saw him and he tried to calm their fears, saying: \u201cPeace be with you.\u201d He then asked, \u201cWhy are you troubled?\u201d Jesus stressed in this brief encounter that he is indeed real! The Jesus who died on the earlier Friday was, in truth, the Risen Christ. Christianity is not founded on dreams of disordered people. It is historically grounded on the conquest of death and on a proven resurrection. Belief is essential to the Christian faith. Why, then, are we so often troubled even as we build our belief in the knowledge of Christ\u2019s resurrection and ascension? The answer is often found in how much we allow the Holy Spirit to control our lives and set us free for discipleship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

William Barclay, the great Scottish theologian, has said many times, \u201cThere is a time to wait on God\u2026 and a time to work for God.\u201d We need to discern this time, because action without preparation most often fails. Before we act for God\u2026 we need to be patient\u2026 in prayer\u2026 seeking wisdom\u2026 listening\u2026 experiencing the power of his Holy Spirit moving within us\u2026 preparing our hearts and mind for action. It is then that we are prepared to move forth with the praise and joy that comes in knowing Jesus Christ as personal Savior and the ascending Redeemer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Holy Spirit has empowered us to be his witnesses. We have waited and if we have listened we are ready to share him with others in the same love in which he has shared himself with us. In waiting we have for a moment \u201cbeen with God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul brings home clearly to the church at Ephesus the impact of Christ\u2019s ascension to be with his Father. Paul talks about God placing all things at Christ\u2019s feet and that he is to be the head of the church\u2026 and that church is to be his body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The church is to have the power of the Holy Spirit and it will transcend itself\u2014heart and mind\u2014to be the driving force that gives us wisdom and revelation. It is this wisdom and revelation that the church today grows as a witness to that power which manifests through discipleship. It is a commitment that reaches out to challenge the generations of people who have grown indifferent to his love and compassion for children of all ages, races, and gender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to recapture that same faith in our Lord and the love of the church, which the people at Ephesus had for Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could Paul say of us, \u201cI have not stopped giving thanks for you\u201d? This brings us again to the need to be still and listen to the one who shares with us that abundant act of forgiveness that goes deep into the depths of our heart and awakens our mind to gifts of individual and corporate ministry. Kathleen Norris, in her best-selling book The Cloister Walk<\/em>, shares with us her experiences as a novice at the Benedictine monastery where she finds and conquers the conflict between the \u201cstillness of God and the busyness of the world around her.\u201d She tells in graphic illustrations of personal experience the struggles one has in learning to wait patiently upon the Lord. When it happens, she says, your world is flooded with peace, love, and a spiritual joy beyond human understanding. Only the spirit of a risen, ascending Jesus must always remain a mystery. The Ascension attempts to put into words what is beyond belief. It is an experience that is real (the disciples saw with their own eyes). Yet, to those same disciples\u2014and to us in the 21st century\u2014it is as much an act of faith as it is a real experience. Had it not been both of these things for the disciples, in time Jesus\u2019 life among them and the early church would have collapsed. That would have wrecked the Christian community of their time and the community we experience today would have never been. The Ascension is so important to our faith because it is a reality which has a three-fold fact: an ending\u2026 a beginning\u2026 and a confirmation of the assurance of God\u2019s love through Christ for his people. It was an ending for the days when the faith of the disciples depended on the flesh and blood of Jesus\u2019 presence among them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a beginning because the disciples did not leave the scene of Jesus\u2019 ascension in frustration. They left knowing full well Jesus\u2019 divine nature and His place at His Father\u2019s table. They left with great joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They had a Master from whom nothing could separate them. In Romans, Paul says: \u201cI am sure that nothing\u2014in life or death\u2014can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, the Ascension gave the disciples the certainty that they had a friend, both in heaven and on earth, who loved them at a level which transcended all pain, all sin, all loneliness. This is a miraculous love that heals relationships and binds together those of us in community who see things differently but focus on Christ and his power to love the unlovable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The church is the complement of God. We are the church of the 21st century. How well do we complement our God? There is a story that many of us have heard before\u2014in one form or another\u2014which tells how Jesus went back to heaven after his time on earth. Even going to heaven He bore the marks of the cross. As the angels talked with him, Gabriel, always inquisitive, said to Jesus: \u201cMaster, you must have suffered terribly for those people down there.\u201d \u201cI did,\u201d Jesus said. \u201cAnd,\u201d said Gabriel, \u201cdo they all know about how you loved them and what you did for them?\u201d \u201cOh no,\u201d said Jesus, \u201cnot yet. Just a few in Palestine know.\u201d \u201cWhat have you done,\u201d said Gabriel, \u201cto let everyone know about it?\u201d Jesus said, \u201cI have asked Peter, James, and John and a few others to make it their business to tell others about me, and the others to tell others and others and others and others, until the farthest people on the widest circle know what I have done.\u201d Gabriel was less than convinced that this would work. He said to Jesus: \u201cWhat if Peter, James, and John and the others get tired and forget and fail? What would happen if way down the years\u2014say 1998\u2014and people just don\u2019t tell others about you? Are there no other plans? \u2026No back-up strategy?\u201d Jesus replied: \u201cI haven\u2019t made other plans. I\u2019m counting on them!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Jesus ascended into heaven to be with his Father, he left the church with us. We are His body. He is counting on us! There is no alternate plan. Either as believers we share the word of the Risen Lord, the Ascended Christ, or we fail his call to be disciples to the world. At Baptism we made a covenant with God. Today we need to ask ourselves: are we still in covenant with him? If the answer is yes\u2014then we are evangelists in action! If the answer is no\u2014then we need to pray for the renewal of our faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CHRIST IS THE ANSWER. AMEN! AMEN! HE IS COUNTING ON US! YOU & ME!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This sermon was written by Harry Denman<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Collect:Grant we pray, Almighty God, that as we believe your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into heaven, so we may also with heart and mind there ascend, and with him continually dwell; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. \u201cWait in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1955,43,52,1953],"tags":[123],"class_list":["post-511740","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-easter","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-ascension-day"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":1955,"label":"Easter"},{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":1953,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":123,"label":"Ascension Day"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3476385,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511740\/revisions\/3476385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}