Easter 7 – Sunday after Ascension         Prayer for May 10-16, 2021  

Lord, the image we have of your Ascension troubles us. We cannot explain it as it defies

all logic and the laws of nature. And yet you have already shown us that you are master

over the wind, the waves, sickness, demons, and death.

What troubles us even more is that you left just as there was so much still to do, your

work only just begun, and we your disciples are somehow left to do it, but how?

The calling of the first disciples was linked to a promise, the promise of the Holy Spirit

and that Spirit would enable them power for the tasks that lie ahead, enable them to do

things beyond their expectations and imaginations.

We, too, are your disciples, Lord. We, too, are called to be your witnesses, even to the

ends of the earth. But how can we do this? There’s too few of us! We haven’t enough

resources. We are afraid and would prefer to retreat to our homes, hoping you might

choose someone else for the job. But God has often chosen “unlikely” people, like

Moses, Gideon, Jonah, and even the disciples for your work. They showed reluctance

or ineptitude, but that didn’t stop you from working through them anyway.

The first disciples gathered as one in mind and purpose. They devoted themselves to

prayer until the promised Holy Spirit descended on them.

Lord, make us one in mind and purpose. Let your Spirit be with us. Enable us to do

things beyond our expectations and imaginations. Let the story of Ascension be about

Jesus going on and not just up and away.        

    --Based upon a sermon for the First Sunday after Ascension Day,                   

         Clippesby Church and Countryside.co.uk