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 10
[1] Why, O LORD, do you stand far away?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
[2] In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.
[3] For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul,
and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the LORD.
[4] In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him;
all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”
[5] His ways prosper at all times;
your judgments are on high, out of his sight;
as for all his foes, he puffs at them.
[6] He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.”
[7] His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
[8] He sits in ambush in the villages;
in hiding places he murders the innocent.
His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
[9] he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket;
he lurks that he may seize the poor;
he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net.
[10] The helpless are crushed, sink down,
and fall by his might.
[11] He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,
he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”
[12] Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand;
forget not the afflicted.
[13] Why does the wicked renounce God
and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”?
[14] But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless commits himself;
you have been the helper of the fatherless.
[15] Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
call his wickedness to account till you find none.
[16] The LORD is king forever and ever;
the nations perish from his land.
[17] O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
[18] to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
Psalm 11
To the choirmaster. Of David.
[1] In the LORD I take refuge;
how can you say to my soul,
Flee like a bird to your mountain,
[2] for behold, the wicked bend the bow;
they have fitted their arrow to the string
to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;
[3] if the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?
[4] The LORD is in his holy temple;
the LORD’s throne is in heaven;
his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.
[5] The LORD tests the righteous,
but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
[6] Let him rain coals on the wicked;
fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
[7] For the LORD is righteous;
he loves righteous deeds;
the upright shall behold his face.
Psalm 12
To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.
[1] Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone;
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
[2] Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
[3] May the LORD cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts,
[4] those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
our lips are with us; who is master over us?”
[5] “Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
I will now arise,” says the LORD;
“I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
[6] The words of the LORD are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.
[7] You, O LORD, will keep them;
you will guard us from this generation forever.
[8] On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
Old Testament Reading
Ezekiel 45
[1] “When you allot the land as an inheritance, you shall set apart for the LORD a portion of the land as a holy district, 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits broad. It shall be holy throughout its whole extent. [2] Of this a square plot of 500 by 500 cubits shall be for the sanctuary, with fifty cubits for an open space around it. [3] And from this measured district you shall measure off a section 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 broad, in which shall be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. [4] It shall be the holy portion of the land. It shall be for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and approach the LORD to minister to him, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. [5] Another section, 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits broad, shall be for the Levites who minister at the temple, as their possession for cities to live in.
[6] “Alongside the portion set apart as the holy district you shall assign for the property of the city an area 5,000 cubits broad and 25,000 cubits long. It shall belong to the whole house of Israel.
[7] “And to the prince shall belong the land on both sides of the holy district and the property of the city, alongside the holy district and the property of the city, on the west and on the east, corresponding in length to one of the tribal portions, and extending from the western to the eastern boundary [8] of the land. It is to be his property in Israel. And my princes shall no more oppress my people, but they shall let the house of Israel have the land according to their tribes.
[9] “Thus says the Lord GOD: Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and execute justice and righteousness. Cease your evictions of my people, declares the Lord GOD.
[10] “You shall have just balances, a just ephah, and a just bath. [11] The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, the bath containing one tenth of a homer, and the ephah one tenth of a homer; the homer shall be the standard measure. [12] The shekel shall be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels shall be your mina.
[13] “This is the offering that you shall make: one sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and one sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley, [14] and as the fixed portion of oil, measured in baths, one tenth of a bath from each cor (the cor, like the homer, contains ten baths). [15] And one sheep from every flock of two hundred, from the watering places of Israel for grain offering, burnt offering, and peace offerings, to make atonement for them, declares the Lord GOD. [16] All the people of the land shall be obliged to give this offering to the prince in Israel. [17] It shall be the prince’s duty to furnish the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the new moons, and the Sabbaths, all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel.
[18] “Thus says the Lord GOD: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a bull from the herd without blemish, and purify the sanctuary. [19] The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and the posts of the gate of the inner court. [20] You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance; so you shall make atonement for the temple.
[21] “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall celebrate the Feast of the Passover, and for seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten. [22] On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a young bull for a sin offering. [23] And on the seven days of the festival he shall provide as a burnt offering to the LORD seven young bulls and seven rams without blemish, on each of the seven days; and a male goat daily for a sin offering. [24] And he shall provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull, an ephah for each ram, and a hin of oil to each ephah. [25] In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month and for the seven days of the feast, he shall make the same provision for sin offerings, burnt offerings, and grain offerings, and for the oil.
- 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, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for 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.