Ascension Sunday

This last Sunday of our Easter season culminates in Jesus ascending to the heavens.  For those first disciples it must have been a very sad occasion because it ends the physical body resurrection stories of the appearances of Jesus.  They must have thought that he was truly gone.  But instead, we know that he inhabits their lives in a new and different way. I love the gospel text for Sunday because it says that they were filled with “great joy.” Next week we will celebrate Pentecost and the birth of the church where the tongues of the Holy Spirit descend on the people. It marks the beginning of this new way of being followers of The Way of Jesus Christ.

I want to ask those of you who are attending the 11:00 service on Sunday to help me out by carrying, if you are able, an Easter lily upstairs for storage. We will not be staying and decorating or eating lunch. ( I have a meeting after church and premarriage counseling already scheduled for Sunday. ) But if everyone would just help for 5 minutes, it would be a huge gift to me. I also have an unusual favor to ask. We will be hosting the Oklahoma Conference send off luncheon for Rev. Victor McCullough on Tuesday and are expecting 150 people. They are ordering real linens and having a catered meal. We would like to gather all the new plastic grey chairs into the Great Hall closet to be used for this meal. If your Sunday school class has some of these chairs, please bring them to the closet and you can have them back next Sunday. Seungrok and I will both be here Tuesday acting as hosts for this special event. I am excited to have all these guests in our building and to show off our beautiful campus. Please pray for everything to go smoothly.

Finally, I want to offer a little background regarding Seungrok’s ordination on Wednesday. In order to get to this place, he had to complete a Masters Degree in Divinity. This degree is over eighty hours of work. For Seungrok he had to take these classes in English. Can you imagine how hard that was? Then he has gone before the Board of Ordained ministry for review every year while serving in a “Commissioned” status. While commissioned, he was expected to lead projects and write papers about his ministry. He then presented his final theological 25 page written statement for review. He also had a psychological exam, a credit check and a background check. Each year being examined by a committee for review. I am very blessed that he has asked me to stand next to him and lay hands on him for his ordination. I am so moved that he chose me for this significant honor. I pray that you will be at the worship service on Wednesday at 7 pm at Boston Avenue to recognize all the work that he has done to get to this final blessing. His mother is coming all the way from Korea and will be here to see his Ordination! There is still room on the church van for you to ride down together.

What an amazing week this will be!