Sunday after Ascension - 2013

Sunday after Ascension-Day.

Psalm 27

Dominus illuminatio

( . . . )

8. Hearken unto my voice, O Lord, when I cry unto thee : have mercy upon me, and hear me.

9. My heart hath talked of thee, Seek ye my face : Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

10. O hide not thou thy face from me : nor cast thy servant away in displeasure.

11. Thou hast been my succour : leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

( . . . )

The Collect.

O GOD the King of glory, who hast exalted thine only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph unto thy kingdom in heaven; We beseech thee, leave us not comfortless; but send to us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us unto the same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 65.17-25

Psalter: Psalm 108, 110 | 46, 47

Epistle Reading: 1 Peter 4.7-11

Gospel Reading: St. John 15.26-16.4

Barbee and Zahl: “The first part of the petition is that we be not comfortless in the face of Christ’s physical absence. There is a heart-rending note sounded here: Don’t leave me alone! I had you once, I saw you and touched you. I need you, but now you are gone. What shall I do? Do you hear me saying it?: Why did you leave me? I am without comfort, like Rachel weeping for her children (St. Matthew 2:18; Jeremiah 31:15). The pathos of the Ascension, ( . . . ) is now fully acknowledged. Home alone. Alone again. The difference, however, is that the prayer implores God, on the basis of St. John 14, to send the Holy Spirit to give us comfort which the world cannot give. We are not in fact alone. The personal presence of God was promised by Jesus. This prayer counts on it. And not only shall the Spirit of God provide that comfort so needed within the vale of tears that is life (honestly represented), but the Spirit will “exalt us” ultimately yonder, over Jordan, over the river of death, to the place where Christ has gone before. The themes of this Collect are absence, solitude, accompaniment, and passage to the Kingdom of Light – right through to the end, and beyond “the end.”” (65).

Massey Hamilton Shepherd, JR.: “The word ‘comfort’ bears here its archaic meaning of ‘strengthen’ (as in the Comfortable Words…) as well as its derivative connotation of ‘console.’” (“The Oxford American Prayer Book Commentary,” 179).