Worship for Pentecost
by Peter Blount 31 May 2020
Greetings in the name of Jesus!
Joy and peace to you all as we receive the Holy Spirit together with the disciples in this celebration of Pentecost.
Call to Worship - Psalm 104 v 34
May my meditation be pleasing to Him, as I rejoice in the Lord.
Please be quiet for a moment and reflect on those words.
Our first hymn is ‘All Creatures of Our God and King’
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Prayer
Lord of Heaven and Earth, as we come to you this morning we, as always, rejoice that we are indeed ‘all creatures of our God and King’ created, blessed and sustained by your mighty hand and constant presence.
We give you thanks for all the many blessings we receive day by day, and especially this day, the blessing of your Holy Spirit. Through that same spirit it is our prayer, this morning, that you will fill us afresh with grace and peace to receive again from your word.
Amen
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Our second hymn is ‘Breathe on me Breath of God’
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They had waited so long – they knew something was going to happen – there was that feeling, that third sense but when it did, when the Holy Spirit came, which was the fulfilment of all the old testament scripture, the realisation of the prophets speaking and preaching – they (the gathered crowd on that special day, who were also worshippers) could not understand, focus or cope. It was so overwhelming, so powerful, so unbelievable, so different.
Imagine being in and around Jerusalem for the 30 odd years covered by the gospels, Jesus birth, work and witness, the trial, the execution, the resurrection and now this!! It’s no wonder they couldn’t cope, I guess from our point of view, and 2000 years of hindsight, and time to consider the whole picture, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is the natural progression, the conclusion, the climax, but to be there at the time, perhaps with not all the facts, understandably confusion and skepticism was rife.
None the less it happened, history was changed – again! God had been present since creation, God’s son Jesus had just completed His earthly ministry and now the gift, power and presence of the Holy Spirit. For the first time ever in the whole of history up to that point, the trinity was complete and completely available.
Can the news get better? YES! Why, because the trinity is still complete and completely available.
So in 2020 knowing that the Holy Spirit is still as powerful and available as it was at the first Pentecost, are we as excited, enthusiastic and blessed as the first disciples were? Perhaps in bad times and good we need to rely more confidently on the Holy Spirit to guide our thinking, praying and actions.
Let Us Pray Together
Spirit of the living God fall afresh on me. So often we sing these words, now we pray them, asking that we may be blessed to overflowing with Pentecostal Spirit, Joy and Peace.
Silence
Lord, today, we live in troubled and difficult times, not just here but throughout the world. We pray for your world and all its peoples whatever race or religion, send blessing, by your Holy Spirit bring comfort and peace.
Today we pray for all those known to us personally, as family, as friends, as members of our congregation or as neighbours; who are struggling, confused and upset in this current crisis, by your Holy Spirit bring comfort and peace.
Today we pray for our church and its leaders at national, circuit and local level. As lockdown begins to ease, we pray that through your limitless Holy Spirit they will find the boldness to revive Methodism, our circuit and our church by dreaming dreams and seeing visions such that the old will not reimerge just tweaked, but something new and attractive will blossom and grow in its place. By your Holy Spirit bring comfort and peace.
Consider, for a few moments your own prayers, then conclude with the Lord’s Prayer.
Our final Hymn – ‘O Breath of God’
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Prayer
For our final, personal and private prayer, we use the words of that last verse making reference to the Breath of God in the form of the Holy Spirit.
Be with me when no other friend,
The mystery of my heart can share;
And be thou known, when fears transcend,
By thy best name of Comforter.
AMEN