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 149
[1] Praise the LORD!
Sing to the LORD a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the godly!
[2] Let Israel be glad in his Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King!
[3] Let them praise his name with dancing,
making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!
[4] For the LORD takes pleasure in his people;
he adorns the humble with salvation.
[5] Let the godly exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their beds.
[6] Let the high praises of God be in their throats
and two-edged swords in their hands,
[7] to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishments on the peoples,
[8] to bind their kings with chains
and their nobles with fetters of iron,
[9] to execute on them the judgment written!
This is honor for all his godly ones.
Praise the LORD!
Psalm 150
[1] Praise the LORD!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens!
[2] Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his excellent greatness!
[3] Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
[4] Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
[5] Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
[6] Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD!
Old Testament Reading
Ezekiel 41
[1] Then he brought me to the nave and measured the jambs. On each side six cubits was the breadth of the jambs. [2] And the breadth of the entrance was ten cubits, and the sidewalls of the entrance were five cubits on either side. And he measured the length of the nave, forty cubits, and its breadth, twenty cubits. [3] Then he went into the inner room and measured the jambs of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the sidewalls on either side of the entrance, seven cubits. [4] And he measured the length of the room, twenty cubits, and its breadth, twenty cubits, across the nave. And he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”
[5] Then he measured the wall of the temple, six cubits thick, and the breadth of the side chambers, four cubits, all around the temple. [6] And the side chambers were in three stories, one over another, thirty in each story. There were offsets all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side chambers, so that they should not be supported by the wall of the temple. [7] And it became broader as it wound upward to the side chambers, because the temple was enclosed upward all around the temple. Thus the temple had a broad area upward, and so one went up from the lowest story to the top story through the middle story. [8] I saw also that the temple had a raised platform all around; the foundations of the side chambers measured a full reed of six long cubits. [9] The thickness of the outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits. The free space between the side chambers of the temple [10] and the other chambers was a breadth of twenty cubits all around the temple on every side. [11] And the doors of the side chambers opened on the free space, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south. And the breadth of the free space was five cubits all around.
[12] The building that was facing the separate yard on the west side was seventy cubits broad, and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits.
[13] Then he measured the temple, a hundred cubits long; and the yard and the building with its walls, a hundred cubits long; [14] also the breadth of the east front of the temple and the yard, a hundred cubits.
[15] Then he measured the length of the building facing the yard that was at the back and its galleries on either side, a hundred cubits.
The inside of the nave and the vestibules of the court, [16] the thresholds and the narrow windows and the galleries all around the three of them, opposite the threshold, were paneled with wood all around, from the floor up to the windows (now the windows were covered), [17] to the space above the door, even to the inner room, and on the outside. And on all the walls all around, inside and outside, was a measured pattern. [18] It was carved of cherubim and palm trees, a palm tree between cherub and cherub. Every cherub had two faces: [19] a human face toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved on the whole temple all around. [20] From the floor to above the door, cherubim and palm trees were carved; similarly the wall of the nave.
[21] The doorposts of the nave were squared, and in front of the Holy Place was something resembling [22] an altar of wood, three cubits high, two cubits long, and two cubits broad. Its corners, its base, and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.” [23] The nave and the Holy Place had each a double door. [24] The double doors had two leaves apiece, two swinging leaves for each door. [25] And on the doors of the nave were carved cherubim and palm trees, such as were carved on the walls. And there was a canopy of wood in front of the vestibule outside. [26] And there were narrow windows and palm trees on either side, on the sidewalls of the vestibule, the side chambers of the temple, and the canopies.
- 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 and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
- Commission -
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.
(Jude 1:24-25)
Let us go forth in the name of Christ.