Experience Pentecost

Experience Pentecost is our worship theme for Pentecost Sunday, May 19, 2013. Our focus scripture is Acts 2:1-12.

As Luke tells it in Acts 2, the story of Pentecost is the story of the Holy Spirit creating the Body of Christ in a way that parallels Luke’s Gospel story of the Holy Spirit creating Jesus. While the Holy Spirit quietly “overshadows” or “lays upon” Mary to cause her to conceive Jesus, the Holy Spirit is anything but quiet in impregnating the Church. Instead there is the sound of a mighty rushing wind, followed by fiery flames, followed by a surge of energy that has the followers of Jesus speaking in all kinds of languages, followed by the drawing of a large, diverse crowd who hear and come to understand the good news of God’s acts in Jesus.

Clearly, the Spirit brings enormous power and energy to the Church. This power binds us together as a community of the fire of Christ. And it gives us sending power to go out into the world and offer a radical welcome. We experience Pentecost when we experience the indwelling of Christ’s living presence and when we speak the language of those around us and tell the good news in ways that they can hear and understand it.

Here is a Call to Worship based on Acts 2:1-21. Please use or adapt anything that is helpful to you.

Call to Worship   (from Acts 2:1-21)

    L: On Pentecost all Christ’s followers were in one place.

    P: Suddenly from heaven came the sound of rushing wind!

All: Whooosh!

    L: Like a tornado, it shook their house!

    P: Then fiery flames appeared, arcing and dancing above their heads.  

    L: They were filled with Holy Spirit! They started speaking in tongues!

    P: What were they saying?

    L: The Spirit gave each a different language. But each told the same story.

    P: Devout people from every nation lived in Jerusalem.

         Hearing the uproar, they came running.

    L: “This is amazing!” We hear God’s deeds proclaimed in our languages.

    P: But some scoffed: “Can’t you see, these people are drunk!”

    L: Then Peter shouted: “Are you kidding? This is what Joel predicted!”

         “In the last days,” God reveals, “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh!”

    P: Our children will prophesy. Our youth will see visions.

         Our elderly will dream dreams.

    L: Slaves and free, men and women, everyone drenched in Holy Spirit!

    P: Then signs will appear in earth and heaven. The sun will go dark.

         The moon will turn to blood.

All: And everyone, yes everyone, who calls on God will be saved!

        Alleluia! Let us worship God!         

Easter 7 Resource

The Church of the Nativity is conducting a debt reduction drive and is temporarily straying from the lectionary. However, here is a Call to Worship based on John 17:22-23 and a litany for Mother's Day which was adapted from a wonderful litany by the Rev. Jane Sommers. Please use or adapt them if they are helpful to you.

Call to Worship    From John 17:22-23    “That They May All be One”

L: Sisters and brothers, let us recall Jesus’ prayer for unity:  

     God, my Father, I pray for my followers,

     and for those who will come to trust in me through their witness.

P: I pray that they may all be one, just as we are one.

L: As you, God, dwell in me and I dwell in you, may they also dwell in us.

P: My Spirit is alive in them and your Spirit is alive in me.

L: May they live in such perfect unity that the world will know

     that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.

All: I pray that they may all be one, just as we are one.

       Let us worship God! 

A Litany for Mothers and Those Who Offer a Mother’s Care

                                                              Adapted from the Rev. Jane Sommers

  L:    Gracious God, you are the Creator of our world and of our lives.

          You gift us with your Spirit of love. Your divine love empowers all

          human parents.      

  P:    As we celebrate your love, we lift to you those who birthed us,

          blessed us, and taught us: our mothers. May your blessing be with

          all who brought us into this world, and upon all the beautiful,

          strong women of faith who have mothered us along our journey.        

L:     We praise you, O God, for your gift of motherly love: gentle and fierce; strong and humble; kind and true. Many are the mothers who embodied your love; who worked hard to raise us, cared enough to correct us, and blessed us with their guidance and love.

P:    Now we also call forth your compassion on every mother who has

        been unable to carry your love and who has caused pain and

        suffering. And we lift to you these mothers, so imperfect and also so wounded by the world.

L:     We bless our mothers this day no matter what they have done or left

        undone. We do this because we believe in your healing love. We know that you love all mothers, and we stand together with them in solidarity, for we are all in need of your grace.

P:    We lift to you every mother who has watched her child die of 

         hunger, all who struggle under conditions of violence or poverty,

         and all whose dreams of mothering have come undone. May you

         comfort them, and may you empower us to work for a better world!   

All:      We lift to you our Mother Earth. We lift to you our Mother Church. We praise you, O God, for your mother’s heart, and we pray that this day you will help each of us to be your blessing of love. Amen.  

Easter 6 Resource

The Church of the Nativity is conducting a debt reduction drive and is temporarily straying from the lectionary. However, here is a Call to Worship based on Revelation 21:22-22:5. Please use or adapt it if it is helpful to you.

Call to Worship   From Revelation 21:22-22:5

L: Friends, in the season of Easter, let us recall John’s vision of the heavenly city.

P: No temple is in the city, for its temple is God Almighty and the Lamb.

L: No sun or moon needs shine. God’s glory is its light. The Lamb is its lamp.

P: The nations walk in its light. Earth’s kings bring their glory.

L: The gates are always open by day – and there is no night.

P: Nothing is the city is false. Everything honors God!

L: Bright as crystal, the river of life flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

P: It flows through city center, the tree of life on either side.

L: The tree produces 12 kinds of fruit – one each month. Its leaves heal the nations.

P: God’s servants worship God face to face. God’s name is on their foreheads.

All: God Almighty is their light. They reign forever and ever.  

Easter 5 Resource

The Church of the Nativity is conducting a debt reduction drive and is temporarily straying from the lectionary. However, here is a Call to Worship based on Psalm 148. Please use or adapt it if it is helpful to you.

Call to Worship     From Psalm 148

L: Hallelujah! Let the heavens sing God’s praise!

P: Praise God you heavenly host of angels!

L: Praise God sun and moon and shining stars!

P: Praise God thunder clouds and rainbows!

L: Let all creation praise God, for God spoke and all was formed.

P: God set all things in place and God’s laws cannot be changed.

L: Hallelujah! Let the earth sing God’s praise!

P: Praise God you sea monsters prowling in ocean depths!

L: Praise God fire and hail, snow and ice, and stormy winds!

P: Praise God mountains and hills, orchards and pines!

L: Praise God lions and lambs, slithering snakes and soaring birds!

P: Praise God kings and paupers, wise of age and little children!

L: Let all praise God, for God alone is worthy of honor.

P: Praise God for loving God’s people and making them strong.

All: Hallelujah!