The Text of Trinity Sunday's YouTube Service

 

Trinity Sunday

Prelude, Welcome, and Information Hymn #413    Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. And also with you. Psalm 29 1Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to     the Lord glory and strength. 2Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name;    worship the Lord in holy splendor. 3The voice of the Lord is over the waters;   the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over mighty waters. 4The voice of the Lord is powerful;   the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. 5The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;   the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. 6He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,   and Sirion like a young wild ox. 7The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. 8The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;   the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 9The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl, and strips    the forest bare; and in his temple all say, “Glory!” 10The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;    the Lord sits enthroned as king forever. 11May the Lord give strength to his people!    May the Lord bless his people with peace! Glory to God in the highest,     and peace to his people on earth. Lord God, heavenly king, almighty God and Father:      We worship you, we give you thanks,       we praise you for your glory. Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father,       Lord God, Lamb of God:      You take away the sin of the world;       have mercy on us. You are seated at the right hand of the Father; receive our prayer.      For you alone are the Holy One,       you alone are the Lord,      you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit,      in the glory of God the Father. Amen

The Lord be with you.       And also with you. Let us pray. Almighty Creator and ever-living God: we worship your glory, eternal Three-in-One, and we praise your power, majestic One-in-Three. Keep us steadfast in this faith, defend us in all adversity, and bring us at last into your presence, where you live in endless joy and love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Reading: Isaiah 6:1-8

A reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah

6In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. ²Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. ³And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” ⁴The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.

⁵And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” ⁶Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. ⁷The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” ⁸Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”

The Word of the Lord

Reading: Romans 8:12-17

A reading from the letter to the Romans

¹²So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— ¹³for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. ¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

¹⁷and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

The Word of the Lord.

Gospel Verse: 

Alleluia! Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; God’s glory fills the whole earth. Alleluia!                                  

Gospel Reading: John 3: 1-7

A reading from the Gospel of John

³Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ²He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” ³Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” ⁴Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ ⁸The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” ⁹Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹“Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. ¹²If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ¹⁷“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Sermon (added at the end of the document)

Hymn #412   Come, Join the Dance of Trinity

Thanks and Offertory

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God,

     the Father, the Almighty,

     maker of heaven and earth,

            of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

        the only Son of God,

            eternally begotten of the Father,

            God from God, Light from Light,

            true God from true God,

            begotten, not made,

            of one Being with the Father.

            Through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation

            he came down from heaven;

            was incarnate of the Holy Spirit

            and the virgin Mary,

            and became truly human.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

            he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again

             in accordance with the Scriptures;

he ascended into heaven

            and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge

            the living and the dead,

            and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,

           the Lord, the giver of life,

            who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

            With the Father and the Son

            he is worshiped and glorified.

            He has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one Baptism

            for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead,

            and the life of the world to come. Amen

Prayers of the Church:  

Trusting Jesus’ promise that we will be heard, we offer our prayers for the world God loves, the church God calls, and for all people according to their needs.

[Short pause]

n  Creator of waters, we are born in water, we are washed in water, we consist of water.  Accept our gratitude for the gifts of water, the gifts of existence.  God of our baptism,

Wash us and send us.

n  Creator of waters, in water you bring forth life, sustain life, renew life.  Nourish us with your presence in the waters of life.  God of our baptism,

Wash us and send us.

n  Creator of waters, in our selfishness we abuse your water, we waste your water, we pollute your water.  Forgive us, cleanse us, and point us in a new direction, that creation may be healed, and the world may know your abundant care.  God of our baptism,

Wash us and send us.

n  Creator of waters, you call your church into being through water, and send us to a dry and thirsty world.  Remind us that we do not go alone, that your Spirit leads us, and Jesus accompanies us.  God of our baptism,

Wash us and send us.

n  Creator of waters, in a world of illness, you point us to healing.  In a world of conflict, you point us to peace.  In a world of death, you point us to life.  Use your people, gathered in worship, to pour your love into everything we do, and everything we are.  God of our baptism,

Wash us and send us.

n  Creator of waters, in water you claim us, in water you name us, in water you bear us toward the world to come.  May we embrace life as you have embraced us, that all creation may know your cleansing flood.  God of our baptism,

Wash us and send us.

n  Creator of waters, bless our homes and our town with your peace. Help us all to find common ground for the common good. God of our baptism,   

Wash us and send us.

n  Creator of waters, bless the congregation of St. Ansgar Church, London, and their pastor, Pr. David Wirt. God of our baptism,   

Wash us and send us.

We ask all this in the name of Jesus, our living Lord.

           Amen.

Hymn #456      Baptized in Water

The Lord’s Prayer

Finally let us pray for all things as our Lord would have us ask:

Our Father, who art in heaven,

    hallowed be thy name,

    thy kingdom come,

    thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;

    and forgive us our trespasses,

      as we forgive those who trespass against us;

    and lead us not into temptation,

       but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power,

         and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Lord, now you let your servant go in peace;

     your word has been fulfilled.

My own eyes have seen the salvation

    which you have prepared

    in the sight of every people:

A light to reveal you to the nations

    and the glory of your people Israel.

Hymn #414     Holy God, We Praise Your Name

Benediction and Sending

The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you.

The Lord look upon you with favor and + give you peace.

                            Amen.

Go in peace. Serve the Lord.   Thanks be to God!

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-         And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

-         For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

-         For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

·         If you decided to listen to this service in order to have the Trinity explained to you, I’ll tell you right now, you’ll be disappointed. The greatest theological minds in the history of the Christian Church could not explain or fully understand the Trinity. Someone like me could not even try. Even to say something as trite as “It’s a mystery we have to take on faith” falls far short of the reality. I have my own theological fantasies, but they are not worth sharing here.

·         The best I can do is to avoid preaching heresy. That in itself will be hard enough to do.

·         So where shall I go with this on Trinity Sunday? At the Easter Vigil, the readings include the creation account from the book of Genesis. The Good News of Jesus Christ is the constant focus in our Gospel readings all through the year. As the Easter season ends and the festival of Pentecost come nearer, we hear of the work of the Holy Spirit and hear of it especially at Pentecost Sunday. We’ve heard this almost all our lives.

·         What comes next is the application of the life of the Trinity to our lives. That is something we can talk about! It may not make any sense right off to say we can live in the Trinity. However strange or mysterious, it is none-the-less real.

·         When we were baptized – when-ever that might have been, we were immersed in more than water. We were immersed in the life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As the water was used, the name of the Trinity was invoked: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” That phrasing is not just for nice (as some people say), but for the gifts of grace and the power of God. Those words call us to a special sort of life and a particular relationship with God and with all those around us.

·         When we live in the Trinity, we live in God’s power, God’s grace, and God’s own life. We live in the community that God has called into being. In a way, God – whom we know as Father, Son, and Spirit – is a loving community. Each is alive in themselves and each loves the others “as themselves.” Love is the basis here.

·         John tell us “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. … God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”  (1John 4: 12, 16b)

·         This then is real “enthusiasm.” The word has come to mean excitement, although originally it mean the person was filled with a spirit of a divinity. By definition, Christians are enthusiastic, filled with the Spirit of the living, creating, redeeming God, whether or not we feel excited.

·         The way we live in the Trinity is to love one another in Spirit and truth. None of us can tell what shape that might take in our lives for each of us, filled with God’s Spirit, will express that in differing ways according to that same Spirit.

·         As we were once immersed in the water of baptism, we remain immersed in the life of the Trinity all of our lives. We draw our very lives from the life of the Trinity and that Trinitarian life continues to call us on and convert and transform us into what God wants us to be in God.

·         How this will be is a daily mystery and I use that term not as a way of avoiding the question but as a way of expressing what is going on under our very noses and yet beyond our very sight. Isaiah was faced with it in his frightening vison. Paul spoke of it in calling Christians “Children of God.” Jesus tell us through John that God’s love is transforming the world around us, within us, and through us who have been born from above.

·         Finally in the very life and love of the Trinity in which we live, we hear and have the courage to answer the call as Isaiah did: Here am I; send me!

A Moment Aside for 28 May 2021

 A Moment Aside --- 28 May 2021

 

     Once again, I’ll let these words of someone else carry the day.

God will speak; we will hear… if we’ve learned how to listen.

 

the Athanasian Creed

Sunday is Trinity Sunday and on this Sunday, it had been traditional in many congregations to recite neither the Apostle's Creed nor the Nicene Creed, but the Athanasian Creed. Originally written in response to some early heresies, this Creed is quite long and it remains one of "the three ecumenical creeds." Considering the length, we might take some solemn joy in not reciting it.

------------------------------------------------------------

The Athanasian Creed (Quicunque Vult) from the Lutheran Book of Worship

                 ("catholic" = "universal", "found everywhere")

Whoever wants to be saved should above all cling to the catholic faith.

Whoever does not guard it whole and inviolable will doubtless perish eternally.

Now this is the catholic faith:

We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity,

 neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being.

For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is still another.

But the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory,

 coeternal in majesty.

What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit.

Uncreated is the Father; uncreated is the Son; uncreated is the Spirit.

The Father is infinite; the Son is infinite; the Holy Spirit is infinite.

Eternal is the Father; eternal is the Son; eternal is the Spirit:

And yet there are not three eternal beings, but one who is eternal;

as there are not three uncreated and unlimited beings, but one who is uncreated and unlimited.

Almighty is the Father; almighty is the Son; almighty is the Spirit:

And yet there are not three almighty beings, but one who is almighty.

Thus the Father is God; the Son is God; the Holy Spirit is God:

And yet there are not three gods, but one God.

Thus the Father is Lord; the Son is Lord; the Holy Spirit is Lord:

And yet there are not three lords, but one Lord.

As Christian truth compels us to acknowledge each distinct person as God and Lord,

 so catholic religion forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords.

The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten;

the Son was neither made nor created, but was alone begotten of the Father;

the Spirit was neither made nor created, but is proceeding from the Father and the Son.

Thus there is one Father, not three fathers; one Son, not three sons;

 one Holy Spirit, not three spirits.

And in this Trinity, no one is before or after, greater or less than the other;

but all three persons are in themselves, coeternal and coequal;

 and so we must worship the Trinity in unity and the one God in three persons.

Whoever wants to be saved should think thus about the Trinity.

It is necessary for eternal salvation that one also faithfully believe

 that our Lord Jesus became flesh.

For this is the true faith that we believe and confess:

 That our Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son, is both God and man.

He is God, begotten before all worlds from the being of the Father,

and he is man, born in the world from the being of his mother—

existing fully as God, and fully as man

 with a rational soul and a human body;

equal to the Father in divinity, subordinate to the Father in humanity.

Although he is God and man, he is not divided,

 but is one Christ.

He is united because God has taken humanity into himself;

 he does not transform deity into humanity.

He is completely one in the unity of his person, without confusing his natures.

For as the rational soul and body are one person, so the one Christ is God and man.

He suffered death for our salvation.

He descended into hell and rose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

At his coming all people shall rise bodily to give an account of their own deeds.

Those who have done good will enter eternal life, those who have done evil will enter eternal fire.

This is the catholic faith. One cannot be saved without believing this firmly and faithfully. 

Your Invitation to Sunday's YouTube Service of Word & Worship --- 30 May 2021

 

Here is your invitation to Sunday's YouTube Service of Word & Worship for Trinity Sunday, 30 May 2021.

The link: Word & Worship for Trinity Sunday

I hope you'll be able to join in.

Pr. John

A Moment Aside for 25 May 2021

 A Moment Aside --- 25 May 2021

 

      Iona is an island off the west coast of Scotland that has long been a place of spiritual purpose for the Christian Church. It was an ancient monastic site and a centre of what has come to be known as “Celtic Spirituality.” What that term means might take too long to discuss in a brief devotional like this. Let’s just say it’s Trinitarian, creation driven, and powerful. Note the wild goose at the bottom of the photo. In the Celtic understanding and symbolism, the Holy Spirit is seen not as a dove, but as a wild goose. That should lead to some discussion among Canadians!

 The prayer asks God to bless “to us” a number of things. In a sense, the prayer asks God to remind the one praying of the goodness of creation and the people within it. The prayer also asks that God’s image within each of us be made known to us. A blessing is asked on time as well.

Creation, friends, God’s presence, and time are all blessings and to see them as such leads to gratitude and a spirit of taking nothing for granted.

Gratitude, humility, openness, and acceptance of the wild Spirit of God capture the soul of this prayer and, most likely, the soul of Iona, its founders, and its community.                                                                

 

The Text for Pentecost Sunday's YouTube Service of Word & Worship

 

Pentecost Sunday

Prelude, Welcome, and Information Hymn #400  God of Tempest, God of Whirlwind

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. And also with you. Psalm 104:24-34, 35b How varied are your works, Lord!     In wisdom you have made them all;     the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, great and wide!     It teems with countless beings,     living things both large and small. There ships ply their course     and Leviathan, whom you formed to play with. All of these look to you to give them food in due time. When you give it to them, they gather;     when you open your hand, they are well filled.      When you hide your face, they panic.     Take away their breath, they perish     and return to the dust.  Send forth your spirit, they are created     and you renew the face of the earth. May the glory of the Lord endure forever;     may the Lord be glad in his works! Who looks at the earth and it trembles,     touches the mountains and they smoke! I will sing to the Lord all my life;     I will sing praise to my God while I live. May my meditation be pleasing to him;     I will rejoice in the Lord. Bless the Lord, my soul! Hallelujah! This is the feast of victory for our God.  Alleluia. Worthy is Christ, the Lamb who was slain, whose blood set us free be people of God. Power, riches, wisdom and strength, and honor and blessing and glory are his. Sing with all the people of God and join in the hymn of all creation: Blessing, honor, glory and might be to God and the Lamb forever. Amen. For the Lamb who was slain has begun his reign.            Alleluia. This is the feast of victory for our God, for the Lamb who was slain has begun his reign Alleluia.

The Lord be with you.       And also with you. Let us pray together. Mighty God, you breathe life into our bones and your Sprit brings truth in the world. Send us this Spirit, transform us by your truth, and give us language to proclaim your Gospel, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Reading: Acts 2:1-21

A reading from the book of the Act of the Apostles

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. ²And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

⁵Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. ⁶And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. ⁷Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? ⁹Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” ¹²All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

¹⁴But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. ¹⁵Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. ¹⁶No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ¹⁷‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. ¹⁸Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. ¹⁹And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. ²⁰The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. ²¹Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

The Word of the Lord

Reading: Romans 8:22-27

A reading from the letter to the Romans

²²We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; ²³and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

²⁶Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. ²⁷And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

The Word of the Lord.

Gospel Verse: 

Alleluia! Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love. Alleluia!                                  

Gospel Reading: John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15

A reading from the Gospel of John

²⁶”When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. ²⁷You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.   

“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. ⁵But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts.

⁷Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹about sin, because they do not believe in me; ¹⁰about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; ¹¹about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. ¹²“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Sermon (added at the end of the document)

Hymn #401  Gracious Spirit, Heed Our Pleading

Thanks and Offertory

Prayers of the Church:  

Filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we pray for all who need our prayers.

[Short pause]

§  Spirit of life, you are found all over, all around, all within.  Open us to your constant presence in all.  Come, Holy Spirit.    Kindle your love in us.

n  Spirit of love, you welcome each and every one of us, and send us to welcome each and every other one.  Inspire us to be welcoming.  Come, Holy Spirit.   

Kindle your love in us.

n  Spirit of hope, you call us through our limitations and boundaries, into the wide expanse of life in the world.  Fire our imaginations.  Come, Holy Spirit.   

Kindle your love in us.

n  Spirit of service, you fill your church to overflowing with your love and your life.  Breathe your power and passion for creation through us and into the world for which you care.  Come, Holy Spirit.   

Kindle your love in us.

n  Spirit of healing, in the middle of a world sick to death, in the middle of nations bent on destruction, in the middle of creation ravaged by greed, we plead for your restoration.  Guide us into a more humane way of life, that all may know your loving care.  Come, Holy Spirit.   

Kindle your love in us.

n  Spirit of tomorrow, break through our fear.  Free us from hesitation.  Fill us with the fire of your love.  Come, Holy Spirit.   

Kindle your love in us.

n  Spirit of resurrection, bless our homes and our town with your peace. Help us all to find common ground for the common good. Come, Holy Spirit.   

Kindle your love in us.

n  Spirit of ministry, bless the congregation of Redeemer Church, London, and their pastor, Pr. Katherine Gohm. Come, Holy Spirit.   

Kindle your love in us.

Hear us, gracious and loving God, for the sake of our gracious and living Saviour, Jesus the Christ.
Amen.

Hymn #396  Spirit of Gentleness

The Lord’s Prayer

Finally let us pray for all things as our Lord would have us ask:

Our Father, who art in heaven,

    hallowed be thy name,

    thy kingdom come,

    thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;

    and forgive us our trespasses,

      as we forgive those who trespass against us;

    and lead us not into temptation,

       but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power,

         and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Lord, now you let your servant go in peace;

     your word has been fulfilled.

My own eyes have seen the salvation

    which you have prepared

    in the sight of every people:

A light to reveal you to the nations

    and the glory of your people Israel.

Hymn #804  Come Down, O Love Divine

Benediction and Sending

The God of hope, who brought again from the dead

that great shepherd of the sheep, Jesus Christ,

fill us with all joy and peace in believing!

                            Amen.

Go in peace. Serve the Lord.   Thanks be to God!

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 Send forth your spirit, they are created

and you renew the face of the earth.

·         I thought I’d do something different today and use the words of the day’s Psalm as the focus for my preaching.

·         Pentecost is often called “the birthday of the Church” since our reading from the Acts of the Apostles tells of the descent of the Spirit on the apostles as “tongues of fire.”

·         I’ve never seen the tongues of fire descend on anyone. I’ve also known an odd sort of guilt for not having more of what some people call “gifts of the Spirit” in my life. And I think I’ve been making a mistake all along.

·         You see, I may have been expecting some more spectacular manifestation of the presence of God’s Spirit in my life. I may have been looking for fire and wind and noise and all those cinematic special effects. What I get is my “normal” life.

·         Well, the joke I see and use a lot is that “Normal is simply a setting on a clothes dryer.” The truth is I and we and all of us have never known a day in our lives without the Spirit of God around us. In our Baptism, we were bathed in both the water and the Spirit. Yet even before that the Spirit of God was at work in us, and certainly without our knowledge. What that actually means is that our lives in the Spirit of God is our normal life.

·         Could we have extraordinary things happen to us through God’s Spirit? It is quite possible. It is also true that we will have ordinary things happen to us through God’s Spirit within and around us.

·         The founding of St. John’s was an act of the Spirit through the lives of those people who were instrumental in the founding of the congregation. The continuation of this congregation is also an act of that same Spirit working through so many of us. Where we will go now will be an action of the Holy Spirit and it could be very surprising.

·         Often the Spirit reminds us of things we already know and then gives us the strength to follow through. We might see the Spirit and the Spirit’s life in us to be an ethereal thing where it is quite practical, that is, having to do with the practice of the faith. We live and pray in the Spirit every day, so things have to be quite practical.

·         The Pentecost story from the book of Acts shows us that the Spirit provides what is needed for the life of the church. The Spirit calls us as the Church to live in the fullness of the Spirit with all that it means – including constant and renewed reform of both self and Church in order to proclaim to the world that we are to love God and love one another. We’ve been hearing a lot of that in our Sunday readings for the past few weeks. And well we should; it is the core of how we as Christian are to interact with all around us.

·         As to the passage from today’s Psalm, it’s a phrase that has fascinated me for a long while. The Psalmist is talking about creation and how God takes care of all that is made. This phrase carries with it an idea of a constant creative energy at work all the time. God doesn’t just create and spin the world off to take care of itself. The Psalmist says “All of these look to you to give them food in due time.” The poetic reference bring us back to all that lives, even the great sea-monster Leviathan, which seems to be a toy for God. Still all the living creatures – even the scary ones – depend on God for their lives. Their creation and their continued existence depend on God and it is God’s creative energy that continually renews the face of the earth.

·         Our life in God’s Spirit permits us and invites us to participate in the continued creation and renewal. God loves us so much, God wants us to be part of this renewal of the face of the earth.

·         Pentecost is the birthday of the Church but it is not the first entry of God’s Spirit into the created world. The Spirit is seen in the first chapter of Genesis, all through-out the lives of the prophets, and in every Gospel report of the baptism of Jesus. Today is our day to remember the Spirit with us now.

Send forth your spirit, they are created

and you renew the face of the earth.