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 mercy of the Lord is everlasting:
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 140
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
[1] Deliver me, O LORD, from evil men;
preserve me from violent men,
[2] who plan evil things in their heart
and stir up wars continually.
[3] They make their tongue sharp as a serpent’s,
and under their lips is the venom of asps. Selah
[4] Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked;
preserve me from violent men,
who have planned to trip up my feet.
[5] The arrogant have hidden a trap for me,
and with cords they have spread a net;
beside the way they have set snares for me. Selah
[6] I say to the LORD, You are my God;
give ear to the voice of my pleas for mercy, O LORD!
[7] O LORD, my Lord, the strength of my salvation,
you have covered my head in the day of battle.
[8] Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked;
do not further their evil plot, or they will be exalted! Selah
[9] As for the head of those who surround me,
let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them!
[10] Let burning coals fall upon them!
Let them be cast into fire,
into miry pits, no more to rise!
[11] Let not the slanderer be established in the land;
let evil hunt down the violent man speedily!
[12] I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted,
and will execute justice for the needy.
[13] Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name;
the upright shall dwell in your presence.
Psalm 141
A Psalm of David.
[1] O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me!
Give ear to my voice when I call to you!
[2] Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
[3] Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth;
keep watch over the door of my lips!
[4] Do not let my heart incline to any evil,
to busy myself with wicked deeds
in company with men who work iniquity,
and let me not eat of their delicacies!
[5] Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness;
let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head;
let my head not refuse it.
Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds.
[6] When their judges are thrown over the cliff,
then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant.
[7] As when one plows and breaks up the earth,
so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
[8] But my eyes are toward you, O GOD, my Lord;
in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless!
[9] Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me
and from the snares of evildoers!
[10] Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
while I pass by safely.
Psalm 142
A Maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.
[1] With my voice I cry out to the LORD;
with my voice I plead for mercy to the LORD.
[2] I pour out my complaint before him;
I tell my trouble before him.
[3] When my spirit faints within me,
you know my way!
In the path where I walk
they have hidden a trap for me.
[4] Look to the right and see:
there is none who takes notice of me;
no refuge remains to me;
no one cares for my soul.
[5] I cry to you, O LORD;
I say, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”
[6] Attend to my cry,
for I am brought very low!
Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are too strong for me!
[7] Bring me out of prison,
that I may give thanks to your name!
The righteous will surround me,
for you will deal bountifully with me.
Psalm 143
A Psalm of David.
[1] Hear my prayer, O LORD;
give ear to my pleas for mercy!
In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
[2] Enter not into judgment with your servant,
for no one living is righteous before you.
[3] For the enemy has pursued my soul;
he has crushed my life to the ground;
he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
[4] Therefore my spirit faints within me;
my heart within me is appalled.
[5] I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all that you have done;
I ponder the work of your hands.
[6] I stretch out my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah
[7] Answer me quickly, O LORD!
My spirit fails!
Hide not your face from me,
lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
[8] Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
[9] Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD!
I have fled to you for refuge.
[10] Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me
on level ground!
[11] For your name’s sake, O LORD, preserve my life!
In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
[12] And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies,
and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul,
for I am your servant.
Old Testament Reading
2 Samuel 2
[1] After this David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” And the LORD said to him, “Go up.” David said, “To which shall I go up?” And he said, “To Hebron.” [2] So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. [3] And David brought up his men who were with him, everyone with his household, and they lived in the towns of Hebron. [4] And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.
When they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul,” [5] David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “May you be blessed by the LORD, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord and buried him. [6] Now may the LORD show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. And I will do good to you because you have done this thing. [7] Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant, for Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”
[8] But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim, [9] and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel. [10] Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. [11] And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
[12] Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. [13] And Joab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. And they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. [14] And Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men arise and compete before us.” And Joab said, “Let them arise.” [15] Then they arose and passed over by number, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. [16] And each caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent’s side, so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim, which is at Gibeon. [17] And the battle was very fierce that day. And Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.
[18] And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was as swift of foot as a wild gazelle. [19] And Asahel pursued Abner, and as he went, he turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. [20] Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Is it you, Asahel?” And he answered, “It is I.” [21] Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and seize one of the young men and take his spoil.” But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. [22] And Abner said again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?” [23] But he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him in the stomach with the butt of his spear, so that the spear came out at his back. And he fell there and died where he was. And all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, stood still.
[24] But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. And as the sun was going down they came to the hill of Ammah, which lies before Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. [25] And the people of Benjamin gathered themselves together behind Abner and became one group and took their stand on the top of a hill. [26] Then Abner called to Joab, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that the end will be bitter? How long will it be before you tell your people to turn from the pursuit of their brothers?” [27] And Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely the men would not have given up the pursuit of their brothers until the morning.” [28] So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the men stopped and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight anymore.
[29] And Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole morning, they came to Mahanaim. [30] Joab returned from the pursuit of Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing from David’s servants nineteen men besides Asahel. [31] But the servants of David had struck down of Benjamin 360 of Abner’s men. [32] And they took up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was at Bethlehem. And Joab and his men marched all night, and the day broke upon them at Hebron.
New Testament Reading
1 Corinthians 13
[1] If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. [2] And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. [3] If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
[4] Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant [5] or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; [6] it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. [7] Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
[8] Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. [9] For we know in part and we prophesy in part, [10] but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. [11] When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. [12] For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
[13] So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
- 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 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.