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 89
A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
[1] I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD forever;
with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
[2] For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever;
in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”
[3] You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:
[4] ‘I will establish your offspring forever,
and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah
[5] Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD,
your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
[6] For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD?
Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD,
[7] a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
and awesome above all who are around him?
[8] O LORD God of hosts,
who is mighty as you are, O LORD,
with your faithfulness all around you?
[9] You rule the raging of the sea;
when its waves rise, you still them.
[10] You crushed Rahab like a carcass;
you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
[11] The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;
the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.
[12] The north and the south, you have created them;
Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.
[13] You have a mighty arm;
strong is your hand, high your right hand.
[14] Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
[15] Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,
who walk, O LORD, in the light of your face,
[16] who exult in your name all the day
and in your righteousness are exalted.
[17] For you are the glory of their strength;
by your favor our horn is exalted.
[18] For our shield belongs to the LORD,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.
[19] Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said:
“I have granted help to one who is mighty;
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
[20] I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him,
[21] so that my hand shall be established with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him.
[22] The enemy shall not outwit him;
the wicked shall not humble him.
[23] I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
[24] My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him,
and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
[25] I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
[26] He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
[27] And I will make him the firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
[28] My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,
and my covenant will stand firm for him.
[29] I will establish his offspring forever
and his throne as the days of the heavens.
[30] If his children forsake my law
and do not walk according to my rules,
[31] if they violate my statutes
and do not keep my commandments,
[32] then I will punish their transgression with the rod
and their iniquity with stripes,
[33] but I will not remove from him my steadfast love
or be false to my faithfulness.
[34] I will not violate my covenant
or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
[35] Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.
[36] His offspring shall endure forever,
his throne as long as the sun before me.
[37] Like the moon it shall be established forever,
a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah
[38] But now you have cast off and rejected;
you are full of wrath against your anointed.
[39] You have renounced the covenant with your servant;
you have defiled his crown in the dust.
[40] You have breached all his walls;
you have laid his strongholds in ruins.
[41] All who pass by plunder him;
he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
[42] You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
you have made all his enemies rejoice.
[43] You have also turned back the edge of his sword,
and you have not made him stand in battle.
[44] You have made his splendor to cease
and cast his throne to the ground.
[45] You have cut short the days of his youth;
you have covered him with shame. Selah
[46] How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire?
[47] Remember how short my time is!
For what vanity you have created all the children of man!
[48] What man can live and never see death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah
[49] Lord, where is your steadfast love of old,
which by your faithfulness you swore to David?
[50] Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked,
and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations,
[51] with which your enemies mock, O LORD,
with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.
[52] Blessed be the LORD forever!
Amen and Amen.
Psalm 90
A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
[1] Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
[2] Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
[3] You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”
[4] For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.
[5] You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:
[6] in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
[7] For we are brought to an end by your anger;
by your wrath we are dismayed.
[8] You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
[9] For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
[10] The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
[11] Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?
[12] So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
[13] Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
[14] Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
[15] Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
[16] Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
[17] Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
Old Testament Reading
Ezekiel 7
[1] The word of the LORD came to me: [2] “And you, O son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel: An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. [3] Now the end is upon you, and I will send my anger upon you; I will judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. [4] And my eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity, but I will punish you for your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
[5] “Thus says the Lord GOD: Disaster after disaster! Behold, it comes. [6] An end has come; the end has come; it has awakened against you. Behold, it comes. [7] Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come; the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting on the mountains. [8] Now I will soon pour out my wrath upon you, and spend my anger against you, and judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. [9] And my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the LORD, who strikes.
[10] “Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! Your doom has come; the rod has blossomed; pride has budded. [11] Violence has grown up into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, nor their abundance, nor their wealth; neither shall there be preeminence among them. [12] The time has come; the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn, for wrath is upon all their multitude. [13] For the seller shall not return to what he has sold, while they live. For the vision concerns all their multitude; it shall not turn back; and because of his iniquity, none can maintain his life.
[14] “They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but none goes to battle, for my wrath is upon all their multitude. [15] The sword is without; pestilence and famine are within. He who is in the field dies by the sword, and him who is in the city famine and pestilence devour. [16] And if any survivors escape, they will be on the mountains, like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, each one over his iniquity. [17] All hands are feeble, and all knees turn to water. [18] They put on sackcloth, and horror covers them. Shame is on all faces, and baldness on all their heads. [19] They cast their silver into the streets, and their gold is like an unclean thing. Their silver and gold are not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it. For it was the stumbling block of their iniquity. [20] His beautiful ornament they used for pride, and they made their abominable images and their detestable things of it. Therefore I make it an unclean thing to them. [21] And I will give it into the hands of foreigners for prey, and to the wicked of the earth for spoil, and they shall profane it. [22] I will turn my face from them, and they shall profane my treasured place. Robbers shall enter and profane it.
[23] “Forge a chain! For the land is full of bloody crimes and the city is full of violence. [24] I will bring the worst of the nations to take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the pride of the strong, and their holy places shall be profaned. [25] When anguish comes, they will seek peace, but there shall be none. [26] Disaster comes upon disaster; rumor follows rumor. They seek a vision from the prophet, while the law perishes from the priest and counsel from the elders. [27] The king mourns, the prince is wrapped in despair, and the hands of the people of the land are paralyzed by terror. According to their way I will do to them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, and they shall know that I am 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...
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; 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)
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord and our neighbors.