Prayer of Worship
Heavenly Creator of all, we celebrate your Holy presence among us. As your Spirit fills us and guides us from within, Lord, we lift our voices in joyful revelation and call for all to hear your praises among all people! Grant our prayers, meditations, songs and praise may be joyful music to you, and that today and always we move in your light to be the blessings of light in the world you have called us to be. In the name of YAHWEH, ABBA, JESUS CHRIST and GOD ALMIGHTY we pray, amen.
Acts 2:1-12
When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak.
There were pious Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered. They were mystified because everyone heard them speaking in their native languages. They were surprised and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all the people who are speaking Galileans, every one of them? How then can each of us hear them speaking in our native language? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; as well as residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the regions of Libya bordering Cyrene; and visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the mighty works of God in our own languages!” They were all surprised and bewildered. Some asked each other, “What does this mean?”
Isaiah 58:9b-10
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.”
Next… (Theme, Transitions, embracing changing times.)
The A priest and a pastor stood near a sharp curve on a busy road holding signs. “The end is near!” read the priest’s sign, while the pastor’s warned, “Turn around before it’s too late!”
As he passed by, a person in a truck yelled “Idiots!” and shook his head. Then he blasted his horn, shot past them and stomped on the gas. Moments later the ministers heard the sound of screeching tires, followed by a big splash.
The priest turned to the pastor and said, “Maybe we should change our signs to ‘Bridge Out’.”
So, my friends, yes, the end is near. But the end of what?
When the day of Pentecost came, it was the end of something and the beginning of something new. We were no longer in the darkness of ignorance; we are instead in the presence of the Holy Spirit and filled with God’s love.
You see, Pentecost used to be one of the most important days in the life of the church. Dr. Albert Hernandez in his book “Subversive Fire” explores both the development of Pentecost and the meaning of this celebration over time. I appreciate his perspective that early Christians were not planning for apocalyptic times, rather they were working with the Holy Spirit to effect change in the church today and thus continue the work of the Holy Spirit in the world now, not for the future. Christians would lock themselves in a room for 49 days in prayer, fasting and sincere attempt to be present with the Holy Spirit among us. On the 50th day they would emerge and bring new insights into the world that would progress the nature of who and what we as the church are in the world. They would literally put their faith into action and become what the Spirit guided them to.
Have we forgotten that fire? Have we set aside our zeal and excitement for God in exchange for our focus on what is comfortable or what we can no longer change?
God has put a light in you, an ember of that light continues to burn within, and we have fanned the flames together over the years. We have again grown to be a church that accepts and invites all people to move in the world as the bright lights God has made us to be. We are actively engaged in mission and outreach to our community and to the world around us. We are community and we are healthy. And while some of us may choose to remember the past with fondness, we are active and moving forward to be the church God is calling us to be. There have been huge shifts in our church and we continue to grow in healthy and new ways.
This is not to say that we cannot miss the past, but as Isaiah indicates, we are being invited to lift the yoke that holds us down. We are no longer the church of yesterday, but the church of today and are present with the idea that we are called to help others lift the yoke of their burdens as well.
We have a firm foundation in Jesus Christ, and we have been tested, now it is time for us to once again shine as a beacon, as God’s light in this world. You are filled with the Holy Spirit and now you can see the world before us as God invites all of us to move into something new.
And yes, today is bittersweet. I am certain the Jews Isaiah is inviting home felt their home was in the place where they had raised their families, and grown to know as their own, but God was calling them to more. They were not leaving their homes and families, they were growing their world. They were establishing new relationships in new countries. They were embracing their history and all they had acquired knowledge of and moving to make their new space a better place for all. They were coming home to God and their people.
You too will be growing your community in new ways. Yes, Kim and I will be somewhere else, but think of what you have become over the past few years and how you will be able to gather more in for you and for this community around you. If you allow your spiritual fire to be flamed, you can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens you, and through the Holy Spirit who inspires and guides you.
And who will hear? All who will listen. All who are lonely and want to become part of what you have here. All who are lost and want desperately to be seen and loved. And all who hunger for God in their lives. Call out to those you have not seen, lift all of the people who live in the neighborhood and invite them to come and be part of something special. Open the doors for all and move into the world sharing the light of God among all people.
We do not take your light with us, we have simply brought light to you and will share that light wherever we are. You too have shared your light and shine brighter today because of it.
You are being called to carry your own sign letting all people know God loves them and willing to share the promise of life everlasting and the forgiveness of sin.
Hold your signs where all can see and welcome the new lives that will be touched by God just as you have welcomed Kim and me. God bless you all,
Vayan con Dios mis amigos, hoy y siempre.
… Go with God my friends, today and always. This is not the end, but a day of new beginnings, amen.