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Weekly Devotional

May 19, 2009

God’s Peace be with you all.

Mark 16:9-20  ⁹ Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.  ¹⁰ She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping.  ¹¹ But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.  ¹² After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country.  ¹³ And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.  ¹⁴ Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.  ¹⁵ And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.  ¹⁶ The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned.  ¹⁷ And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;  ¹⁸ they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."  ¹⁹ So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.  ²⁰ And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.

This coming Thursday is The Ascension of our Lord in accordance with the lectionary.  While many churches do not celebrate the Ascension unless it is on a Sunday, it is still a rather important celebration.  In the timeline of events from Easter to Pentecost, Jesus appears to his disciples several times.  But before the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, Jesus ascended into heaven to be with the Father.  This is something we profess every Sunday of the year when we say our creeds. 

In preparation for Ascension, I was reading a sermon written by Walter W. Harms.  The title of his sermon was “A Mission Accomplished; A Mission to Accomplish.”  Harms says that Jesus has completed his mission of saving the world from the power of sin and death.  But at the same time, leaves a mission for all of us that still has to be accomplished.  He says our mission though “is very simple in its goal: repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be preached in Jesus' name to all nations.”  This is what the church is supposed to be about; it is what we ARE about. 

Our mission is one that will one day be accomplished as well.  One day Jesus Christ will come back and help us complete our mission.  His return will assure us that our mission is accomplished as well, and then we, along with him, will live with God forever.  Until then though, we have a lot of work to do!

In our prayers this week: 

Ann (awaiting test results), Norm (surgery Thursday), Jane, Irene (Jane’s mom), Lia (having surgery Friday), St. John’s Lutheran Church (the interim is coming to an end at the end of May).  Celebration and Prayer for Mary Schaeffer:  One son was named the President of the Atlanta BAR, and another son is headed to the Sudan region for a few months for work.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Judson