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.
Praying the Psalms
Psalm 110
A Psalm of David.
[1] The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
[2] The LORD sends forth from Zion
your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your enemies!
[3] Your people will offer themselves freely
on the day of your power,
in holy garments;
from the womb of the morning,
the dew of your youth will be yours.
[4] The LORD has sworn
and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.”
[5] The Lord is at your right hand;
he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
[6] He will execute judgment among the nations,
filling them with corpses;
he will shatter chiefs
over the wide earth.
[7] He will drink from the brook by the way;
therefore he will lift up his head.
Psalm 111
[1] Praise the LORD!
I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart,
in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
[2] Great are the works of the LORD,
studied by all who delight in them.
[3] Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
and his righteousness endures forever.
[4] He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;
the LORD is gracious and merciful.
[5] He provides food for those who fear him;
he remembers his covenant forever.
[6] He has shown his people the power of his works,
in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
[7] The works of his hands are faithful and just;
all his precepts are trustworthy;
[8] they are established forever and ever,
to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
[9] He sent redemption to his people;
he has commanded his covenant forever.
Holy and awesome is his name!
[10] The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever!
Old Testament Reading
Deuteronomy 22
[1] “You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother. [2] And if he does not live near you and you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him. [3] And you shall do the same with his donkey or with his garment, or with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he loses and you find; you may not ignore it. [4] You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again.
[5] “A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.
[6] “If you come across a bird’s nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. [7] You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long.
[8] “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.
[9] “You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited, the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. [10] You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. [11] You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together.
[12] “You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself.
[13] “If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then hates her [14] and accuses her of misconduct and brings a bad name upon her, saying, ‘I took this woman, and when I came near her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity,’ [15] then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate. [16] And the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to marry, and he hates her; [17] and behold, he has accused her of misconduct, saying, “I did not find in your daughter evidence of virginity.” And yet this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloak before the elders of the city. [18] Then the elders of that city shall take the man and whip him, [19] and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name upon a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife. He may not divorce her all his days. [20] But if the thing is true, that evidence of virginity was not found in the young woman, [21] then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father’s house. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
[22] “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
[23] “If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, [24] then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
[25] “But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. [26] But you shall do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no offense punishable by death. For this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor, [27] because he met her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help there was no one to rescue her.
[28] “If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found, [29] then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has violated her. He may not divorce her all his days.
[30] “A man shall not take his father’s wife, so that he does not uncover his father’s nakedness.
- 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...
Grant, O Lord, that the course of this world may be peaceably governed by your providence; and that your Church may joyfully serve you in confidence and serenity; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and 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.