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 Word was made flesh and dwelt among us:
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 69
To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David.
[1] Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
[2] I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.
[3] I am weary with my crying out;
my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim
with waiting for my God.
[4] More in number than the hairs of my head
are those who hate me without cause;
mighty are those who would destroy me,
those who attack me with lies.
What I did not steal
must I now restore?
[5] O God, you know my folly;
the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
[6] Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,
O Lord GOD of hosts;
let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,
O God of Israel.
[7] For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
that dishonor has covered my face.
[8] I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my mother’s sons.
[9] For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
[10] When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting,
it became my reproach.
[11] When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.
[12] I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,
and the drunkards make songs about me.
[13] But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD.
At an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
[14] Deliver me
from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
and from the deep waters.
[15] Let not the flood sweep over me,
or the deep swallow me up,
or the pit close its mouth over me.
[16] Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
[17] Hide not your face from your servant,
for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
[18] Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies!
[19] You know my reproach,
and my shame and my dishonor;
my foes are all known to you.
[20] Reproaches have broken my heart,
so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none,
and for comforters, but I found none.
[21] They gave me poison for food,
and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
[22] Let their own table before them become a snare;
and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.
[23] Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
and make their loins tremble continually.
[24] Pour out your indignation upon them,
and let your burning anger overtake them.
[25] May their camp be a desolation;
let no one dwell in their tents.
[26] For they persecute him whom you have struck down,
and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
[27] Add to them punishment upon punishment;
may they have no acquittal from you.
[28] Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
[29] But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your salvation, O God, set me on high!
[30] I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
[31] This will please the LORD more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.
[32] When the humble see it they will be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
[33] For the LORD hears the needy
and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.
[34] Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and everything that moves in them.
[35] For God will save Zion
and build up the cities of Judah,
and people shall dwell there and possess it;
[36] the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,
and those who love his name shall dwell in it.
Psalm 70
To the choirmaster. Of David, for the memorial offering.
[1] Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
O LORD, make haste to help me!
[2] Let them be put to shame and confusion
who seek my life!
Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor
who delight in my hurt!
[3] Let them turn back because of their shame
who say, “Aha, Aha!”
[4] May all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you!
May those who love your salvation
say evermore, “God is great!”
[5] But I am poor and needy;
hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O LORD, do not delay!
Old Testament Reading
1 Kings 9
[1] As soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build, [2] the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. [3] And the LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. [4] And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, [5] then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ [6] But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, [7] then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. [8] And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ [9] Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the LORD has brought all this disaster on them.’”
[10] At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD and the king’s house, [11] and Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold, as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. [12] But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please him. [13] Therefore he said, “What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?” So they are called the land of Cabul to this day. [14] Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents of gold.
[15] And this is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon drafted to build the house of the LORD and his own house and the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer [16] (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife; [17] so Solomon rebuilt Gezer) and Lower Beth-horon [18] and Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, [19] and all the store cities that Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. [20] All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel—[21] their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the people of Israel were unable to devote to destruction—these Solomon drafted to be slaves, and so they are to this day. [22] But of the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves. They were the soldiers, they were his officials, his commanders, his captains, his chariot commanders and his horsemen.
[23] These were the chief officers who were over Solomon’s work: 550 who had charge of the people who carried on the work.
[24] But Pharaoh’s daughter went up from the city of David to her own house that Solomon had built for her. Then he built the Millo.
[25] Three times a year Solomon used to offer up burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he built to the LORD, making offerings with it before the LORD. So he finished the house.
[26] King Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. [27] And Hiram sent with the fleet his servants, seamen who were familiar with the sea, together with the servants of Solomon. [28] And they went to Ophir and brought from there gold, 420 talents, and they brought it to King Solomon.
New Testament Reading
Ephesians 6
[1] Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. [2] “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), [3] “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” [4] Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
[5] Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, [6] not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, [7] rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, [8] knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. [9] Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.
[10] Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. [11] Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. [12] For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. [13] Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. [14] Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, [15] and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. [16] In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; [17] and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, [18] praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, [19] and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, [20] for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
[21] So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. [22] I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.
[23] Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. [24] Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
- 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, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 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.