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.
Isaiah 4:2–6
[2] In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. [3] And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, [4] when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. [5] Then the LORD will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. [6] There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.
Isaiah 5
[1] Let me sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
[2] He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
[3] And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
[4] What more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
[5] And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
[6] I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
[7] For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness,
but behold, an outcry!
[8] Woe to those who join house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is no more room,
and you are made to dwell alone
in the midst of the land.
[9] The LORD of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
“Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
[10] For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”
[11] Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening
as wine inflames them!
[12] They have lyre and harp,
tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,
but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD,
or see the work of his hands.
[13] Therefore my people go into exile
for lack of knowledge;
their honored men go hungry,
and their multitude is parched with thirst.
[14] Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite
and opened its mouth beyond measure,
and the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude will go down,
her revelers and he who exults in her.
[15] Man is humbled, and each one is brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty are brought low.
[16] But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice,
and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
[17] Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture,
and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.
[18] Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,
who draw sin as with cart ropes,
[19] who say: “Let him be quick,
let him speed his work
that we may see it;
let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
and let it come, that we may know it!”
[20] Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
[21] Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
and shrewd in their own sight!
[22] Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
[23] who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of his right!
[24] Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so their root will be as rottenness,
and their blossom go up like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts,
and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
[25] Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people,
and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them,
and the mountains quaked;
and their corpses were as refuse
in the midst of the streets.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
[26] He will raise a signal for nations far away,
and whistle for them from the ends of the earth;
and behold, quickly, speedily they come!
[27] None is weary, none stumbles,
none slumbers or sleeps,
not a waistband is loose,
not a sandal strap broken;
[28] their arrows are sharp,
all their bows bent,
their horses’ hoofs seem like flint,
and their wheels like the whirlwind.
[29] Their roaring is like a lion,
like young lions they roar;
they growl and seize their prey;
they carry it off, and none can rescue.
[30] They will growl over it on that day,
like the growling of the sea.
And if one looks to the land,
behold, darkness and distress;
and the light is darkened by its clouds.
Isaiah 6
[1] In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. [2] Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. [3] And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
[4] And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. [5] And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
[6] Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. [7] And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
[8] And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” [9] And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
[10] Make the heart of this people dull,
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
[11] Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until cities lie waste
without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
and the land is a desolate waste,
[12] and the LORD removes people far away,
and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
[13] And though a tenth remain in it,
it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
whose stump remains
when it is felled.”
The holy seed is its stump.
Psalm 80
To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Testimony. Of Asaph, a Psalm.
[1] Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.
[2] Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up your might
and come to save us!
[3] Restore us, O God;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!
[4] O LORD God of hosts,
how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
[5] You have fed them with the bread of tears
and given them tears to drink in full measure.
[6] You make us an object of contention for our neighbors,
and our enemies laugh among themselves.
[7] Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!
[8] You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
[9] You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
[10] The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches.
[11] It sent out its branches to the sea
and its shoots to the River.
[12] Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
[13] The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.
[14] Turn again, O God of hosts!
Look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
[15] the stock that your right hand planted,
and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.
[16] They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down;
may they perish at the rebuke of your face!
[17] But let your hand be on the man of your right hand,
the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!
[18] Then we shall not turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call upon your name!
[19] Restore us, O LORD God of hosts!
Let your face shine, that we may be saved!
Proverbs 17
[1] Better is a dry morsel with quiet
than a house full of feasting with strife.
[2] A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully
and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers.
[3] The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,
and the LORD tests hearts.
[4] An evildoer listens to wicked lips,
and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.
[5] Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker;
he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.
[6] Grandchildren are the crown of the aged,
and the glory of children is their fathers.
[7] Fine speech is not becoming to a fool;
still less is false speech to a prince.
[8] A bribe is like a magic stone in the eyes of the one who gives it;
wherever he turns he prospers.
[9] Whoever covers an offense seeks love,
but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.
[10] A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding
than a hundred blows into a fool.
[11] An evil man seeks only rebellion,
and a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
[12] Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs
rather than a fool in his folly.
[13] If anyone returns evil for good,
evil will not depart from his house.
[14] The beginning of strife is like letting out water,
so quit before the quarrel breaks out.
[15] He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous
are both alike an abomination to the LORD.
[16] Why should a fool have money in his hand to buy wisdom
when he has no sense?
[17] A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity.
[18] One who lacks sense gives a pledge
and puts up security in the presence of his neighbor.
[19] Whoever loves transgression loves strife;
he who makes his door high seeks destruction.
[20] A man of crooked heart does not discover good,
and one with a dishonest tongue falls into calamity.
[21] He who sires a fool gets himself sorrow,
and the father of a fool has no joy.
[22] A joyful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
[23] The wicked accepts a bribe in secret
to pervert the ways of justice.
[24] The discerning sets his face toward wisdom,
but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.
[25] A foolish son is a grief to his father
and bitterness to her who bore him.
[26] To impose a fine on a righteous man is not good,
nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.
[27] Whoever restrains his words has knowledge,
and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.
[28] Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise;
when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.
- 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.