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!
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness:
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 42
To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.
[1] As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
[2] My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
[3] My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
[4] These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.
[5] Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation [6] and my God.
My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
[7] Deep calls to deep
at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me.
[8] By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
[9] I say to God, my rock:
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?”
[10] As with a deadly wound in my bones,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
[11] Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.
Psalm 43
[1] Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
against an ungodly people,
from the deceitful and unjust man
deliver me!
[2] For you are the God in whom I take refuge;
why have you rejected me?
Why do I go about mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?
[3] Send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling!
[4] Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy,
and I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.
[5] Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.
Psalm 44
To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.
[1] O God, we have heard with our ears,
our fathers have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
in the days of old:
[2] you with your own hand drove out the nations,
but them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
but them you set free;
[3] for not by their own sword did they win the land,
nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm,
and the light of your face,
for you delighted in them.
[4] You are my King, O God;
ordain salvation for Jacob!
[5] Through you we push down our foes;
through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.
[6] For not in my bow do I trust,
nor can my sword save me.
[7] But you have saved us from our foes
and have put to shame those who hate us.
[8] In God we have boasted continually,
and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah
[9] But you have rejected us and disgraced us
and have not gone out with our armies.
[10] You have made us turn back from the foe,
and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
[11] You have made us like sheep for slaughter
and have scattered us among the nations.
[12] You have sold your people for a trifle,
demanding no high price for them.
[13] You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,
the derision and scorn of those around us.
[14] You have made us a byword among the nations,
a laughingstock among the peoples.
[15] All day long my disgrace is before me,
and shame has covered my face
[16] at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.
[17] All this has come upon us,
though we have not forgotten you,
and we have not been false to your covenant.
[18] Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our steps departed from your way;
[19] yet you have broken us in the place of jackals
and covered us with the shadow of death.
[20] If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
[21] would not God discover this?
For he knows the secrets of the heart.
[22] Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
[23] Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!
[24] Why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
[25] For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
our belly clings to the ground.
[26] Rise up; come to our help!
Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!
Old Testament Reading
Jeremiah 45
[1] The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: [2] “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: [3] You said, ‘Woe is me! For the LORD has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.’ [4] Thus shall you say to him, Thus says the LORD: Behold, what I have built I am breaking down, and what I have planted I am plucking up—that is, the whole land. [5] And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the LORD. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go.”
- 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 God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for 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)
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord and our neighbors.