In Home Worship – Sunday, May 17, 2026 – Seventh Sunday of Easter

Image Credit: Vaughan, Joanna. Ascension, 2007, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56521

May 17, 2026, Ascension Sunday: What’s your Orientation?

Just before Jesus ascends into heaven, he says to his disciples: “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46b-47).

The focus on repentance and forgiveness at the end of Jesus’ ministry brings us back to the very moment when it started. John, Jesus’ cousin, established the ministry of baptism in repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Eerdmans Bible Dictionary defines repentance as “a complete change of orientation involving a judgment upon the past and a deliberate redirection for the future.”

This turning around is, according to the biblical prophetic tradition, a turning back towards God. We all seek salvation in all kinds of things: in money, in people, in food and drink, in power and success. But salvation can only be found in God. And so, we need to reorient ourselves towards God every day anew. How do we do that?

Come and find out this Sunday at Our Savior Lutheran Church, 745 Front St. S., in Issaquah and on YouTube.

– Pr. Kristin-Luana