Ascension 08
Ascension 2008 8:45
The story is told of how once Frederick the Great, one of the most
eccentric sovereigns who ever graced a European throne, was selecting a
court chaplain. He advertised for a number of candidates, who ascended the pulpit and preached before the court on successive Sundays. But the requirement was that
each preacher should not know in advance what text he was to preach
upon. As he was ready to ascend the pulpit, an officer of the court
would step up and hand him an envelope; within that envelope was a slip
of paper bearing a gospel text; and from that text the candidate must preach.
On one Sunday the candidate for the day was handed his envelope; he
ascended the pulpit; he opened the envelope, and took out the slip of
paper. But it was blank. He examined it carefully to see if any markings
had eluded him. But the scrap of paper bore not a single line.
Looking calmly at his audience, the preacher said, "The slip in my hand
says nothing. Now, my brethren, God made the world out of nothing!" And
he went right on to preach a stirring sermon on the creation.
Today on Ascension Thursday, we emphasize the word, ascend.
The feast of the Ascension teaches us a very important lesson.
The lesson is that we must spend our lives ascending from what is inferior to what is superior.
For example, we must ascend from seeking external pleasure to living with interior joy. We must ascend from accumulating things and wealth which never really can satisfy us to a stripping of ourselves of greedy egotism. We must ascend form routine even thoughtless prayer to the ecstasy of mystical prayer.
What is necessary is that we realize our need for these and other ascensions in our life.
Even more important is our faith awareness that Jesus’ ascension power is always available to us and always at our disposal.
For example, when we have inferior feelings about ourselves, Jesus’ ascension power is there to raise us above these feelings to the recognition of our priceless ness in God’s eyes. But through prayer we must open ourselves to Jesus’ ascension power.
Or another example: it is Jesus’ ascension power that helps us to ascend form a lack of self-esteem and self-confidence to a happy self-acceptance because Jesus accepts you, warts and all.
We need to use Jesus’ Ascension power, for example, to ascend from warmaking to peacemaking;
From prejudice to all-embracing acceptance; from selfishness to gracious generosity. This is your challenge of Jesus’ Ascension.
Ask Jesus your ascended Lord to help you to always rise above the inferiority of your sinfulness and enter into the superiority of holiness.
HUMOR
``` An Indian chief ascended a high mountain. All day long he drank gallons of tea. The next morning they found the chief dead in his teepee.
THOUGHT: Always ascend to a higher level.
The story is told of how once Frederick the Great, one of the most
eccentric sovereigns who ever graced a European throne, was selecting a
court chaplain. He advertised for a number of candidates, who ascended the pulpit and preached before the court on successive Sundays. But the requirement was that
each preacher should not know in advance what text he was to preach
upon. As he was ready to ascend the pulpit, an officer of the court
would step up and hand him an envelope; within that envelope was a slip
of paper bearing a gospel text; and from that text the candidate must preach.
On one Sunday the candidate for the day was handed his envelope; he
ascended the pulpit; he opened the envelope, and took out the slip of
paper. But it was blank. He examined it carefully to see if any markings
had eluded him. But the scrap of paper bore not a single line.
Looking calmly at his audience, the preacher said, "The slip in my hand
says nothing. Now, my brethren, God made the world out of nothing!" And
he went right on to preach a stirring sermon on the creation.
Today on Ascension Thursday, we emphasize the word, ascend.
The feast of the Ascension teaches us a very important lesson.
The lesson is that we must spend our lives ascending from what is inferior to what is superior.
For example, we must ascend from seeking external pleasure to living with interior joy. We must ascend from accumulating things and wealth which never really can satisfy us to a stripping of ourselves of greedy egotism. We must ascend form routine even thoughtless prayer to the ecstasy of mystical prayer.
What is necessary is that we realize our need for these and other ascensions in our life.
Even more important is our faith awareness that Jesus’ ascension power is always available to us and always at our disposal.
For example, when we have inferior feelings about ourselves, Jesus’ ascension power is there to raise us above these feelings to the recognition of our priceless ness in God’s eyes. But through prayer we must open ourselves to Jesus’ ascension power.
Or another example: it is Jesus’ ascension power that helps us to ascend form a lack of self-esteem and self-confidence to a happy self-acceptance because Jesus accepts you, warts and all.
We need to use Jesus’ Ascension power, for example, to ascend from warmaking to peacemaking;
From prejudice to all-embracing acceptance; from selfishness to gracious generosity. This is your challenge of Jesus’ Ascension.
Ask Jesus your ascended Lord to help you to always rise above the inferiority of your sinfulness and enter into the superiority of holiness.
HUMOR
``` An Indian chief ascended a high mountain. All day long he drank gallons of tea. The next morning they found the chief dead in his teepee.
THOUGHT: Always ascend to a higher level.
posted by The Ronald | 1:00 PM
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