Wednesday Words for June 4, 2014
From Pastor Carrie Smith
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Thought for the Day:
“The Holy Spirit is a very political bird—one which doesn’t stop for border guards.
The authoritative lines are crossed.
Indeed in Pentecost those lines are blown right off the spiritual map.”
Bill Wylie Kellerman
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Theology on Tap! Tomorrow night at 7:30 pm meet at the “upper room” of Duke’s Alehouse and Kitchen for beer and Bible talk. Beverages optional.
Sunday at Bethany: The Day of Pentecost is here! Wear red (or another fiery color) in honor of the tongues of fire which rested upon the disciples’ heads on the day of Pentecost.
What a joy it will be to witness the baptisms of these brothers and sisters on Sunday:
8:30 a.m.: Alyssa Fure
10:30 a.m.: Eli Everett Crizer, Peyton Thomas Dycha, Mason Davis Hegg,
Kaylee Ann Jarrard, and Tristan Teague
Our wonderful artists and musicians have been working hard to prepare for a beautiful celebration of the Holy Spirit! The Visual Arts Team has swathed the sanctuary in red; the Vision Dancers will be blowing down the aisles like the breath of God; the Drum Ministry will encourage our singing with rhythm; and the Adult Choir will lift up their voices in song! Come and worship with us!
Pentecost signals the start of a new church season, which means we’ll begin singing a new musical setting of the liturgy. Get ready to have a Latin feel in worship this summer, as we will be singing Setting 7 from our hymnal. Setting 7 includes verses in Spanish as well as English, so if you are a Spanish speaker, please sing loud and proud!
Thank you again to all who helped with the annual garage sale! I’m pleased to report we netted $2400, which will go toward the church deficit. We also saw lots of paper brought in for shredding. Added together, last year’s shred plus this year’s shred equal the weight of an ELEPHANT! Wow!
This Week’s Texts: Day of Pentecost
PRAYER OF THE DAY
O God, on this day you open the hearts of your faithful people
by sending into us your Holy Spirit.
Direct us by the light of that Spirit,
that we may have a right judgment in all things
and rejoice at all times in your peace,
through Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
FIRST READING Acts 2:1–21
Pentecost was a Jewish harvest festival that marked the fiftieth day after Passover. Luke portrays the Holy Spirit being poured out upon the disciples before the gathered and astonished people assembled in Jerusalem for the festival. Filled with the Spirit, the disciples were able to witness to the power of Christ's resurrection.
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
5Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11Cretans and Arabs — in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power." 12All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" 13But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."
14But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. 16No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17'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 your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
18Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;and they shall prophesy.
19And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
20The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.
21Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'
SECOND READING 1 Corinthians 12:3b–13
Paul is helping the Corinthians understand the relationship between our God-given unity and Spirit-created diversity. The Spirit creates the unity of faith and gives all Christians diverse gifts for the common benefit of all. We need one another's diverse spiritual gifts, because the same Spirit has given them to each person for the common good.
3bAnd no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit. 4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13For 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.
GOSPEL John 20:19–23
The risen Jesus appears to his disciples, offering them a benediction, a commission, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
19When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
Peace,
Pastor Carrie Smith
