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.
Isaiah 62
[1] For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet,
until her righteousness goes forth as brightness,
and her salvation as a burning torch.
[2] The nations shall see your righteousness,
and all the kings your glory,
and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the LORD will give.
[3] You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
[4] You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married;
for the LORD delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
[5] For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.
[6] On your walls, O Jerusalem,
I have set watchmen;
all the day and all the night
they shall never be silent.
You who put the LORD in remembrance,
take no rest,
[7] and give him no rest
until he establishes Jerusalem
and makes it a praise in the earth.
[8] The LORD has sworn by his right hand
and by his mighty arm:
“I will not again give your grain
to be food for your enemies,
and foreigners shall not drink your wine
for which you have labored;
[9] but those who garner it shall eat it
and praise the LORD,
and those who gather it shall drink it
in the courts of my sanctuary.”
[10] Go through, go through the gates;
prepare the way for the people;
build up, build up the highway;
clear it of stones;
lift up a signal over the peoples.
[11] Behold, the LORD has proclaimed
to the end of the earth:
Say to the daughter of Zion,
“Behold, your salvation comes;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.”
[12] And they shall be called The Holy People,
The Redeemed of the LORD;
and you shall be called Sought Out,
A City Not Forsaken.
Isaiah 63
[1] Who is this who comes from Edom,
in crimsoned garments from Bozrah,
he who is splendid in his apparel,
marching in the greatness of his strength?
“It is I, speaking in righteousness,
mighty to save.”
[2] Why is your apparel red,
and your garments like his who treads in the winepress?
[3] “I have trodden the winepress alone,
and from the peoples no one was with me;
I trod them in my anger
and trampled them in my wrath;
their lifeblood spattered on my garments,
and stained all my apparel.
[4] For the day of vengeance was in my heart,
and my year of redemption had come.
[5] I looked, but there was no one to help;
I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold;
so my own arm brought me salvation,
and my wrath upheld me.
[6] I trampled down the peoples in my anger;
I made them drunk in my wrath,
and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
[7] I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD,
the praises of the LORD,
according to all that the LORD has granted us,
and the great goodness to the house of Israel
that he has granted them according to his compassion,
according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
[8] For he said, “Surely they are my people,
children who will not deal falsely.”
And he became their Savior.
[9] In all their affliction he was afflicted,
and the angel of his presence saved them;
in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
[10] But they rebelled
and grieved his Holy Spirit;
therefore he turned to be their enemy,
and himself fought against them.
[11] Then he remembered the days of old,
of Moses and his people.
Where is he who brought them up out of the sea
with the shepherds of his flock?
Where is he who put in the midst of them
his Holy Spirit,
[12] who caused his glorious arm
to go at the right hand of Moses,
who divided the waters before them
to make for himself an everlasting name,
[13] who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert,
they did not stumble.
[14] Like livestock that go down into the valley,
the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest.
So you led your people,
to make for yourself a glorious name.
[15] Look down from heaven and see,
from your holy and beautiful habitation.
Where are your zeal and your might?
The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion
are held back from me.
[16] For you are our Father,
though Abraham does not know us,
and Israel does not acknowledge us;
you, O LORD, are our Father,
our Redeemer from of old is your name.
[17] O LORD, why do you make us wander from your ways
and harden our heart, so that we fear you not?
Return for the sake of your servants,
the tribes of your heritage.
[18] Your holy people held possession for a little while;
our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.
[19] We have become like those over whom you have never ruled,
like those who are not called by your name.
Isaiah 64
[1] Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might quake at your presence—
[2] as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
[3] When you did awesome things that we did not look for,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
[4] From of old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
who acts for those who wait for him.
[5] You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?
[6] We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
[7] There is no one who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.
[8] But now, O LORD, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
[9] Be not so terribly angry, O LORD,
and remember not iniquity forever.
Behold, please look, we are all your people.
[10] Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
[11] Our holy and beautiful house,
where our fathers praised you,
has been burned by fire,
and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
[12] Will you restrain yourself at these things, O LORD?
Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?
Psalm 116
[1] I love the LORD, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
[2] Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
[3] The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
[4] Then I called on the name of the LORD:
“O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!”
[5] Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
[6] The LORD preserves the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
[7] Return, O my soul, to your rest;
for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
[8] For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling;
[9] I will walk before the LORD
in the land of the living.
[10] I believed, even when I spoke:
“I am greatly afflicted”;
[11] I said in my alarm,
“All mankind are liars.”
[12] What shall I render to the LORD
for all his benefits to me?
[13] I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD,
[14] I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.
[15] Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his saints.
[16] O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
You have loosed my bonds.
[17] I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the LORD.
[18] I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,
[19] in the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD!
- 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, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
- Commission -
The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)
Let us go forth in the name of Christ.