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!
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God:
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 94
[1] O LORD, God of vengeance,
O God of vengeance, shine forth!
[2] Rise up, O judge of the earth;
repay to the proud what they deserve!
[3] O LORD, how long shall the wicked,
how long shall the wicked exult?
[4] They pour out their arrogant words;
all the evildoers boast.
[5] They crush your people, O LORD,
and afflict your heritage.
[6] They kill the widow and the sojourner,
and murder the fatherless;
[7] and they say, “The LORD does not see;
the God of Jacob does not perceive.”
[8] Understand, O dullest of the people!
Fools, when will you be wise?
[9] He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see?
[10] He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?
He who teaches man knowledge—
[11] the LORD—knows the thoughts of man,
that they are but a breath.
[12] Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD,
and whom you teach out of your law,
[13] to give him rest from days of trouble,
until a pit is dug for the wicked.
[14] For the LORD will not forsake his people;
he will not abandon his heritage;
[15] for justice will return to the righteous,
and all the upright in heart will follow it.
[16] Who rises up for me against the wicked?
Who stands up for me against evildoers?
[17] If the LORD had not been my help,
my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
[18] When I thought, “My foot slips,”
your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.
[19] When the cares of my heart are many,
your consolations cheer my soul.
[20] Can wicked rulers be allied with you,
those who frame injustice by statute?
[21] They band together against the life of the righteous
and condemn the innocent to death.
[22] But the LORD has become my stronghold,
and my God the rock of my refuge.
[23] He will bring back on them their iniquity
and wipe them out for their wickedness;
the LORD our God will wipe them out.
Old Testament Reading
Deuteronomy 10
[1] “At that time the LORD said to me, ‘Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and make an ark of wood. [2] And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.’ [3] So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. [4] And he wrote on the tablets, in the same writing as before, the Ten Commandments that the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And the LORD gave them to me. [5] Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark that I had made. And there they are, as the LORD commanded me.”
[6] (The people of Israel journeyed from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried. And his son Eleazar ministered as priest in his place. [7] From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with brooks of water. [8] At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD to stand before the LORD to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day. [9] Therefore Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers. The LORD is his inheritance, as the LORD your God said to him.)
[10] “I myself stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights, and the LORD listened to me that time also. The LORD was unwilling to destroy you. [11] And the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, go on your journey at the head of the people, so that they may go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to give them.’
[12] “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, [13] and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? [14] Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. [15] Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. [16] Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. [17] For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. [18] He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. [19] Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. [20] You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. [21] He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. [22] Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.
- 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...
Remember, O Lord, what you have wrought in us and not what we deserve; and, as you have called us to your service, make us worthy of our calling; through Jesus Christ 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.
