Pentecost
The word ‘Pentecost’ comes from the Greek meaning simply ‘fiftieth.’ Pentecost Sunday ends the season of Easter and symbolizes a new beginning. It celebrates the unleashing of the Holy Spirit on the world and the empowering of the church to reach the world with the gospel. In remembering Pentecost and living in light of this powerful turning point the church expresses gratitude to Christ for sending “another counselor” (John 14:16), celebrates the work of the Spirit in the renewal of all creation, and professes its confidence and security in knowing the Spirit’s power is available for its mission.
- Calling -
O Lord, open our lips.
And our mouth shall proclaim Your praise.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen. Alleluia!
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God:
O come, let us adore him.
- Constitution -
Read/Listen, Meditate, Pray, and Contemplate on God’s Word, remembering that God is with you and ready to speak to you because he loves you.
Song of Solomon 5:2–16
SHE
[2] I slept, but my heart was awake.
A sound! My beloved is knocking.
“Open to me, my sister, my love,
my dove, my perfect one,
for my head is wet with dew,
my locks with the drops of the night.”
[3] I had put off my garment;
how could I put it on?
I had bathed my feet;
how could I soil them?
[4] My beloved put his hand to the latch,
and my heart was thrilled within me.
[5] I arose to open to my beloved,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with liquid myrrh,
on the handles of the bolt.
[6] I opened to my beloved,
but my beloved had turned and gone.
My soul failed me when he spoke.
I sought him, but found him not;
I called him, but he gave no answer.
[7] The watchmen found me
as they went about in the city;
they beat me, they bruised me,
they took away my veil,
those watchmen of the walls.
[8] I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
if you find my beloved,
that you tell him
I am sick with love.
OTHERS
[9] What is your beloved more than another beloved,
O most beautiful among women?
What is your beloved more than another beloved,
that you thus adjure us?
SHE
[10] My beloved is radiant and ruddy,
distinguished among ten thousand.
[11] His head is the finest gold;
his locks are wavy,
black as a raven.
[12] His eyes are like doves
beside streams of water,
bathed in milk,
sitting beside a full pool.
[13] His cheeks are like beds of spices,
mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.
His lips are lilies,
dripping liquid myrrh.
[14] His arms are rods of gold,
set with jewels.
His body is polished ivory,
bedecked with sapphires.
[15] His legs are alabaster columns,
set on bases of gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
choice as the cedars.
[16] His mouth is most sweet,
and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.
Song of Solomon 6
OTHERS
[1] Where has your beloved gone,
O most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned,
that we may seek him with you?
SHE
[2] My beloved has gone down to his garden
to the beds of spices,
to graze in the gardens
and to gather lilies.
[3] I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;
he grazes among the lilies.
HE
[4] You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love,
lovely as Jerusalem,
awesome as an army with banners.
[5] Turn away your eyes from me,
for they overwhelm me—
Your hair is like a flock of goats
leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
[6] Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
that have come up from the washing;
all of them bear twins;
not one among them has lost its young.
[7] Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
behind your veil.
[8] There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,
and virgins without number.
[9] My dove, my perfect one, is the only one,
the only one of her mother,
pure to her who bore her.
The young women saw her and called her blessed;
the queens and concubines also, and they praised her.
[10] “Who is this who looks down like the dawn,
beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,
awesome as an army with banners?”
SHE
[11] I went down to the nut orchard
to look at the blossoms of the valley,
to see whether the vines had budded,
whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
[12] Before I was aware, my desire set me
among the chariots of my kinsman, a prince.
OTHERS
[13] Return, return, O Shulammite,
return, return, that we may look upon you.
HE
Why should you look upon the Shulammite,
as upon a dance before two armies?
Song of Solomon 7
[1] How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O noble daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like jewels,
the work of a master hand.
[2] Your navel is a rounded bowl
that never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat,
encircled with lilies.
[3] Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
[4] Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are pools in Heshbon,
by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon,
which looks toward Damascus.
[5] Your head crowns you like Carmel,
and your flowing locks are like purple;
a king is held captive in the tresses.
[6] How beautiful and pleasant you are,
O loved one, with all your delights!
[7] Your stature is like a palm tree,
and your breasts are like its clusters.
[8] I say I will climb the palm tree
and lay hold of its fruit.
Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
and the scent of your breath like apples,
[9] and your mouth like the best wine.
SHE
It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
gliding over lips and teeth.
[10] I am my beloved’s,
and his desire is for me.
[11] Come, my beloved,
let us go out into the fields
and lodge in the villages;
[12] let us go out early to the vineyards
and see whether the vines have budded,
whether the grape blossoms have opened
and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
[13] The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
and beside our doors are all choice fruits,
new as well as old,
which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.
Song of Solomon 8
[1] Oh that you were like a brother to me
who nursed at my mother’s breasts!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you,
and none would despise me.
[2] I would lead you and bring you
into the house of my mother—
she who used to teach me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
the juice of my pomegranate.
[3] His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces me!
[4] I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
[5] Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on her beloved?
Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother was in labor with you;
there she who bore you was in labor.
[6] Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
jealousy is fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very flame of the LORD.
[7] Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
all the wealth of his house,
he would be utterly despised.
OTHERS
[8] We have a little sister,
and she has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
on the day when she is spoken for?
[9] If she is a wall,
we will build on her a battlement of silver,
but if she is a door,
we will enclose her with boards of cedar.
SHE
[10] I was a wall,
and my breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
as one who finds peace.
[11] Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
he let out the vineyard to keepers;
each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.
[12] My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.
HE
[13] O you who dwell in the gardens,
with companions listening for your voice;
let me hear it.
SHE
[14] Make haste, my beloved,
and be like a gazelle
or a young stag
on the mountains of spices.
Proverbs 15
[1] A soft answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
[2] The tongue of the wise commends knowledge,
but the mouths of fools pour out folly.
[3] The eyes of the LORD are in every place,
keeping watch on the evil and the good.
[4] A gentle tongue is a tree of life,
but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
[5] A fool despises his father’s instruction,
but whoever heeds reproof is prudent.
[6] In the house of the righteous there is much treasure,
but trouble befalls the income of the wicked.
[7] The lips of the wise spread knowledge;
not so the hearts of fools.
[8] The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD,
but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.
[9] The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD,
but he loves him who pursues righteousness.
[10] There is severe discipline for him who forsakes the way;
whoever hates reproof will die.
[11] Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD;
how much more the hearts of the children of man!
[12] A scoffer does not like to be reproved;
he will not go to the wise.
[13] A glad heart makes a cheerful face,
but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed.
[14] The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge,
but the mouths of fools feed on folly.
[15] All the days of the afflicted are evil,
but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.
[16] Better is a little with the fear of the LORD
than great treasure and trouble with it.
[17] Better is a dinner of herbs where love is
than a fattened ox and hatred with it.
[18] A hot-tempered man stirs up strife,
but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.
[19] The way of a sluggard is like a hedge of thorns,
but the path of the upright is a level highway.
[20] A wise son makes a glad father,
but a foolish man despises his mother.
[21] Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense,
but a man of understanding walks straight ahead.
[22] Without counsel plans fail,
but with many advisers they succeed.
[23] To make an apt answer is a joy to a man,
and a word in season, how good it is!
[24] The path of life leads upward for the prudent,
that he may turn away from Sheol beneath.
[25] The LORD tears down the house of the proud
but maintains the widow’s boundaries.
[26] The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD,
but gracious words are pure.
[27] Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household,
but he who hates bribes will live.
[28] The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer,
but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.
[29] The LORD is far from the wicked,
but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
[30] The light of the eyes rejoices the heart,
and good news refreshes the bones.
[31] The ear that listens to life-giving reproof
will dwell among the wise.
[32] Whoever ignores instruction despises himself,
but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.
[33] The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom,
and humility comes before honor.
- Communion -
Pray for yourself, others, our church, our neighbors, and the world.
Pray the Lord’s Prayer & the collect of the week:
Our Father who art in heaven...
Almighty and merciful God, in your goodness keep us, we pray, from all things that may hurt us, that we, being ready both in mind and body, may accomplish with free hearts those things which belong to your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
- Commission -
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14)
Let us go forth in the name of Christ.