Greetings. Corkie and I took several days off last week, making a mid-week visit to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where it was hot one day, warm one day (with wind off the land side bringing flies), and downright cold one day (with a roaring wind off the ocean). We enjoyed visits to some of our favorite dining spots: Sam & Omie’s (great for breakfast), Ortega’Z (the Cubano sandwich for lunch), the Rundown Cafe (a Caribbean term that does not describe the state of the place) for a late afternoon lunch/dinner), and Tortuga’s Lie (another Caribbean term meaning a place and not a falsehood) for a late night dinner. The Volvo XC90 AWD did very well going up and down all those perfectly flat roads. We got back in time to help grandson Jaoob celebrate his 10th birthday.
I have posted a Podcast Homily for Sunday After Ascension, focusing on the two readings, 1 Peter 4:7-11. which is more New Testament wisdom, and John 15:26 to 16:4, part of the final discourses with the Disciples on Maundy Thursday in which the compassionate Christ warns the Disciples the fate that awaits them because they followed Him. Listen to the Podcast Homily.
If your local parish did not offer a service for Ascension Day (Thursday), you can find the complete Ascension Day service I read at my former parish, including the text and music for A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing, the Venerable Bede’s written description of what the Apostles saw from Acts 1 at my Amazon author page in the AIC Bookstore publication, Occasional Services for Anglican Worship: Visit the Amazon page.
The 16th Century Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox icon for Ascension displays the amazed Apostles watching Jesus rise in a blue aura, with an angel on each side. The background is rich, bright gold with a darker gold border. Note the legends above the angels which contain traditional symbols of Christ.
In the 8th Century, the Venerable Bede, the distinguished first historian of the Church in England which gives us our only view of the Church as it existed at that time, wrote A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing which remains the model for Ascension Day music, especially in the Anglican and Lutheran traditions. Sung to the German tune, Lasst Uns Erfreuen. the hymn has seven verses with seven alleluias (a double halleluia at the end of the first stanza of each verses and a five-part Alleluia chorus following each verse.
Verses 1 and 5:
A hymn of glory let us sing;
New songs thro’out the world shall ring;
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Christ by a road before untrod,
Ascendeth to the throne of God.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
O risen Christ, ascended Lord,
All praise to Thee let earth accord,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Who art, while endless ages run,
With Father and with Spirit One.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Have a glorious Sunday After Ascension celebrating Christ’s return to the Father from Whom He descended at His Nativity.
Anglican Internet Church 
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