The Day Of Pentecost
Worship
Lectionary Worship Workbook
Series IV, Cycle A
Hymns
Holy Spirit, Truth Divine (CBH508, PH321)
Fire Of God, Undying Flame (NCH64)
Wind Who Makes All Winds That Blow (NCH271, CBH31, UM38, PH131)
Filled With The Spirit's Power (NCH266, CBH289, UM537)
Like The Murmur Of A Dove's Song (CBH29, UM544, PH314)
O Spirit Of The Living God (CBH361, UM539)
Spirit Of The Living God (PH322)
Many And Great, O God (NCH3, UM148, PH271)
I Sing The Mighty Power Of God (CBH46, UM152, PH288)
Forward Through The Ages (NCH277, UM555)
Breathe On Me, Breath Of God (CBH356, UM420, PH316)
Let It Breathe On Me (NCH288, UM503)
Glorious Things Of Thee Are Spoken (CBH619, UM731, PH446)
Anthems
Therefore, Give Us Love, Daniel Moe, Augsburg, 2--part
Wind Of The Spirit, Handt Hanson, Worship And Praise, p. 184
Pentecost Fire, Cool, CGA, Unison
Bless The Lord, O My Soul, Handel/Hopson, CGA, SAB
It would be special to have had the children make kites or windsocks or flags in red and white with doves or flames on them to decorate the church. Before the service starts, teach the congregation the word "peace" in several different languages. Explain that when you read the Acts passage during the scripture lessons, you would like each of them to choose one of those words to repeat several times after verse 4 of the reading. You will give them a sign for when this is to happen. Also ask them to make the sound of wind during verse 2 of the same passage.
Call to Worship (based on Psalm 104)
Leader: O God, how all encompassing are your works! Wisely you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
People: Yonder is the sea, great and wide,
Children: So many creeping things you can't count them
Adults: Living things both large and small.
Leader: All creatures look to you to give them their food in due season.
Men: When you give to them, they gather it up.
Women: When you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
All: Giver of life, we praise you!
Prayer of Invocation
Breathe on us, breath of God, fill us and refresh us. We come to you on this Pentecost Sunday, ready to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We need to feel reinvigorated and refreshed. Open us to all we see, taste, smell, hear, and feel as we worship you. Amen.
Scripture Readings
Acts 2:1--21 and 1 Corinthians 12:3b--13 are two wonderful passages. Use the choral speaking choir with help from the congregation. This is truly a wonderful day for making a joyful noise. Have each member of the choir dress differently - use children if you can. They may have props, also; i.e. - a car mechanic in overalls, a woman in African dress, a child with a soccer ball and uniform, a businessman with a briefcase, a teenager with a guitar, a cook with chef's hat - are some suggestions. Have them come up out of the congregation.
Acts 2:1--21: Have the speaking choir begin grouped close together.
All: When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
(When they say, "Suddenly," have the congregation make wind sounds, and choir starts moving as if being blown. Move away from each other and into these positions):
X X X X X
X X X X
X P X (P is for Peter)
Solo 1: Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.
All: All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
(The congregation will now speak their words for peace, repeatedly, six to eight times)
Solo 2: Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of them. Amazed and astonished, they asked,
3 Voices: "Are not all those who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes. Cretans and Arabs - in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's seeds of power."
All: All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"
2 Voices From The Back Row: But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."
All: But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them,
Peter: (Steps forward a step) Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only 9 o'clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: "In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
1 Corinthians 12:3b--13: Have the choir move into one single line across the front of the church. Different soloists will say certain lines. When it is their verse, that person will step forward one step and raise or point out their prop or costume, to show their differences. They do not have to match the verse they are saying - it's just the differences that are important.
All: And no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.
Solo 1: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
Solo 2: And there are varieties of services, but the same Lord;
Solo 3: And there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.
All: To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
Solo 4: To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom,
Solo 5: And to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
Solo 6: To another faith by the same Spirit,
Solo 7: To another gifts of the healing by the one Spirit,
Solo 8: To another the working of miracles,
Solo 9: To another prophecy,
Solo 10: To another the discernment of spirits,
Solo 11: To another various kinds of tongues,
Solo 12: To another the interpretation of tongues.
Soloists 1--6: All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
Soloists 7--12: For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, through many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
All: For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Benediction (based on Psalm 104)
Leader: May the glory of God endure forever, may Yahweh rejoice in all works.
People: (May be sung) Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me,
Leader: God looks on the earth and it trembles, God touches the mountains and they smoke.
People: Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Leader: I will sing to Yahweh as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
People: Meld me, mold me,
Leader: May my meditation be pleasing to God, for I rejoice in my God.
People: Fill me, use me.
Leader: Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise God!
People: Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Holy Spirit, Truth Divine (CBH508, PH321)
Fire Of God, Undying Flame (NCH64)
Wind Who Makes All Winds That Blow (NCH271, CBH31, UM38, PH131)
Filled With The Spirit's Power (NCH266, CBH289, UM537)
Like The Murmur Of A Dove's Song (CBH29, UM544, PH314)
O Spirit Of The Living God (CBH361, UM539)
Spirit Of The Living God (PH322)
Many And Great, O God (NCH3, UM148, PH271)
I Sing The Mighty Power Of God (CBH46, UM152, PH288)
Forward Through The Ages (NCH277, UM555)
Breathe On Me, Breath Of God (CBH356, UM420, PH316)
Let It Breathe On Me (NCH288, UM503)
Glorious Things Of Thee Are Spoken (CBH619, UM731, PH446)
Anthems
Therefore, Give Us Love, Daniel Moe, Augsburg, 2--part
Wind Of The Spirit, Handt Hanson, Worship And Praise, p. 184
Pentecost Fire, Cool, CGA, Unison
Bless The Lord, O My Soul, Handel/Hopson, CGA, SAB
It would be special to have had the children make kites or windsocks or flags in red and white with doves or flames on them to decorate the church. Before the service starts, teach the congregation the word "peace" in several different languages. Explain that when you read the Acts passage during the scripture lessons, you would like each of them to choose one of those words to repeat several times after verse 4 of the reading. You will give them a sign for when this is to happen. Also ask them to make the sound of wind during verse 2 of the same passage.
Call to Worship (based on Psalm 104)
Leader: O God, how all encompassing are your works! Wisely you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
People: Yonder is the sea, great and wide,
Children: So many creeping things you can't count them
Adults: Living things both large and small.
Leader: All creatures look to you to give them their food in due season.
Men: When you give to them, they gather it up.
Women: When you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
All: Giver of life, we praise you!
Prayer of Invocation
Breathe on us, breath of God, fill us and refresh us. We come to you on this Pentecost Sunday, ready to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We need to feel reinvigorated and refreshed. Open us to all we see, taste, smell, hear, and feel as we worship you. Amen.
Scripture Readings
Acts 2:1--21 and 1 Corinthians 12:3b--13 are two wonderful passages. Use the choral speaking choir with help from the congregation. This is truly a wonderful day for making a joyful noise. Have each member of the choir dress differently - use children if you can. They may have props, also; i.e. - a car mechanic in overalls, a woman in African dress, a child with a soccer ball and uniform, a businessman with a briefcase, a teenager with a guitar, a cook with chef's hat - are some suggestions. Have them come up out of the congregation.
Acts 2:1--21: Have the speaking choir begin grouped close together.
All: When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
(When they say, "Suddenly," have the congregation make wind sounds, and choir starts moving as if being blown. Move away from each other and into these positions):
X X X X X
X X X X
X P X (P is for Peter)
Solo 1: Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.
All: All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
(The congregation will now speak their words for peace, repeatedly, six to eight times)
Solo 2: Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of them. Amazed and astonished, they asked,
3 Voices: "Are not all those who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes. Cretans and Arabs - in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's seeds of power."
All: All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"
2 Voices From The Back Row: But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."
All: But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them,
Peter: (Steps forward a step) Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only 9 o'clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: "In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
1 Corinthians 12:3b--13: Have the choir move into one single line across the front of the church. Different soloists will say certain lines. When it is their verse, that person will step forward one step and raise or point out their prop or costume, to show their differences. They do not have to match the verse they are saying - it's just the differences that are important.
All: And no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.
Solo 1: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
Solo 2: And there are varieties of services, but the same Lord;
Solo 3: And there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.
All: To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
Solo 4: To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom,
Solo 5: And to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
Solo 6: To another faith by the same Spirit,
Solo 7: To another gifts of the healing by the one Spirit,
Solo 8: To another the working of miracles,
Solo 9: To another prophecy,
Solo 10: To another the discernment of spirits,
Solo 11: To another various kinds of tongues,
Solo 12: To another the interpretation of tongues.
Soloists 1--6: All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
Soloists 7--12: For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, through many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
All: For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Benediction (based on Psalm 104)
Leader: May the glory of God endure forever, may Yahweh rejoice in all works.
People: (May be sung) Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me,
Leader: God looks on the earth and it trembles, God touches the mountains and they smoke.
People: Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Leader: I will sing to Yahweh as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
People: Meld me, mold me,
Leader: May my meditation be pleasing to God, for I rejoice in my God.
People: Fill me, use me.
Leader: Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise God!
People: Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
