Pentecost Sunday
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Prelude, Welcome, and Information Hymn
#400 God of Tempest, God of Whirlwind |
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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! All of these look to you to give
them food in due time. When
you hide your face, they panic. May the glory of the Lord endure
forever; This is
the feast of victory for our God.
Alleluia. Power, riches, wisdom and strength, Sing with all the
people of God For the Lamb who was slain has begun his reign. Alleluia. This is the feast of victory for our God, |
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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!
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.
Hope you and your people had a blessed Pentecost, Pastor.
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