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!
The earth is the Lord's for he made it:
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 109
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
[1] Be not silent, O God of my praise!
[2] For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me,
speaking against me with lying tongues.
[3] They encircle me with words of hate,
and attack me without cause.
[4] In return for my love they accuse me,
but I give myself to prayer.
[5] So they reward me evil for good,
and hatred for my love.
[6] Appoint a wicked man against him;
let an accuser stand at his right hand.
[7] When he is tried, let him come forth guilty;
let his prayer be counted as sin!
[8] May his days be few;
may another take his office!
[9] May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow!
[10] May his children wander about and beg,
seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit!
[11] May the creditor seize all that he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil!
[12] Let there be none to extend kindness to him,
nor any to pity his fatherless children!
[13] May his posterity be cut off;
may his name be blotted out in the second generation!
[14] May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD,
and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out!
[15] Let them be before the LORD continually,
that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth!
[16] For he did not remember to show kindness,
but pursued the poor and needy
and the brokenhearted, to put them to death.
[17] He loved to curse; let curses come upon him!
He did not delight in blessing; may it be far from him!
[18] He clothed himself with cursing as his coat;
may it soak into his body like water,
like oil into his bones!
[19] May it be like a garment that he wraps around him,
like a belt that he puts on every day!
[20] May this be the reward of my accusers from the LORD,
of those who speak evil against my life!
[21] But you, O GOD my Lord,
deal on my behalf for your name’s sake;
because your steadfast love is good, deliver me!
[22] For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is stricken within me.
[23] I am gone like a shadow at evening;
I am shaken off like a locust.
[24] My knees are weak through fasting;
my body has become gaunt, with no fat.
[25] I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
when they see me, they wag their heads.
[26] Help me, O LORD my God!
Save me according to your steadfast love!
[27] Let them know that this is your hand;
you, O LORD, have done it!
[28] Let them curse, but you will bless!
They arise and are put to shame, but your servant will be glad!
[29] May my accusers be clothed with dishonor;
may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a cloak!
[30] With my mouth I will give great thanks to the LORD;
I will praise him in the midst of the throng.
[31] For he stands at the right hand of the needy one,
to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.
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
Jeremiah 3
[1] “If a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man’s wife,
will he return to her?
Would not that land be greatly polluted?
You have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?
declares the LORD.
[2] Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see!
Where have you not been ravished?
By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
like an Arab in the wilderness.
You have polluted the land
with your vile whoredom.
[3] Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have the forehead of a whore;
you refuse to be ashamed.
[4] Have you not just now called to me,
‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—
[5] will he be angry forever,
will he be indignant to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken,
but you have done all the evil that you could.”
[6] The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore? [7] And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. [8] She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. [9] Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. [10] Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD.”
[11] And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. [12] Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say,
“‘Return, faithless Israel,
declares the LORD.
I will not look on you in anger,
for I am merciful,
declares the LORD;
I will not be angry forever.
[13] Only acknowledge your guilt,
that you rebelled against the LORD your God
and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree,
and that you have not obeyed my voice,
declares the LORD.
[14] Return, O faithless children,
declares the LORD;
for I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
and I will bring you to Zion.
[15] “‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. [16] And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the LORD.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. [17] At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. [18] In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.
[19] “‘I said,
How I would set you among my sons,
and give you a pleasant land,
a heritage most beautiful of all nations.
And I thought you would call me, My Father,
and would not turn from following me.
[20] Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,
so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,
declares the LORD.’”
[21] A voice on the bare heights is heard,
the weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons
because they have perverted their way;
they have forgotten the LORD their God.
[22] “Return, O faithless sons;
I will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to you,
for you are the LORD our God.
[23] Truly the hills are a delusion,
the orgies on the mountains.
Truly in the LORD our God
is the salvation of Israel.
[24] “But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. [25] Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”
New Testament Reading
Matthew 17
[1] And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. [2] And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. [3] And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. [4] And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” [5] He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” [6] When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. [7] But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” [8] And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
[9] And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” [10] And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” [11] He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. [12] But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.” [13] Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
[14] And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, [15] said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. [16] And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” [17] And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” [18] And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. [19] Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” [20] He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
[22] As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, [23] and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.
[24] When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” [25] He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” [26] And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. [27] However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”
- 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...
O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; 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.