O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Where do you encounter God? For faithful Jews of Jesus’ day, and surely Jesus himself was one of them, the ultimate locus of divine/human encounter would have been the Temple in Jerusalem. Beautiful and awe-inspiring, hallowed by prayers and history, focus of the sacrifices commanded in the Torah. It was an obligation and joy to worship there at significant moments of one’s personal life
This year as part of my Lenten practice I am reading a poem every day from the book The Heart’s Time, compiled by the wonderful English liturgist Janet Morley. She says this about poetry, whether written with conscious religious intention or not: “It is common for a poem to examine something familiar in such a way that it becomes newly strange. Applied to religious
Welcome to the 2015 Church of the Ascension Lenten Devotional. This devotional is a reprint from 2003. As you complete each day’s readings and writings, we hope you will feel encouraged to sit with God’s words and the words of our current and former fellows from Church of the Ascension. Lent is a deeply spiritual time for each of us which takes meaning in
Holy Week 2018 “Lent is not preparation for Easter. Easter equips us for Lent.” – Steve Hassert Dear People of Ascension, Last weekend, I was at Trinity Retreat Center, leading a retreat entitled “Listening to the Still Small Voice”. It has become a tradition for me to do this every Lent with clergy colleagues, and it’s always wonderful to go away with participants