Seventh Sunday of Easter (A), June 1, 2014 - Acts 1:6-14

(A page from J. S. Bach's Mass in B minor with the line, ascendit in coelum.)

http://jewishbach.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/et-resurrexit-mm-60-63.jpeg

They must have thought that they had failed

When, strung up on the cross and nailed,

He died, with all he'd giv'n, undone;

The end of all their joy had come.

But then, they briefly knew him there!

In upper room and beach, despair

Dissolved! How could it be, I ask,

That Love returned, with death unmasked

As powerless his end to make?

I know not how, nor could they take

This joy for granted, for he soon

Rose out of sight, while they, marooned,

Stood open-mouthed at such a turn,

Hopes dashed again, until they yearned

For his return; now, more than twelve,

This fam'ly with their fears dissolved,

Are gathered, back in upper room,

This birthplace of the church, this womb,

Where soon, in eating, prayer and hymn,

By Spirit, they'll be born again.

Scott L. Barton

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 times 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. While 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.