Texts: Numbers 11:24-30; Psalm 104:24-34, 35b; Acts
2:1-21; John 20:19-23
Call to Worship
No great flowing fabrics
of red
hanging from sanctuary ceilings,
yet this is still the day we celebrate
Grace’s breath shattering the shutters of our hearts.
On this day, clad in our
pajamas, sitting at home
may we continue to let the Spirit
of new life breathe upon us!
From near empty sanctuaries, through video worship,
we gather with our sisters and brothers,
proclaiming that
we are God’s Pentecost.
On this day, we would touch
(virtually) all
who remain sheltered in place, safe in God’s grace.
There will be no birthday cakes, no balloons released,
no butterflies emerging from cocoons,
yet in the days to come, we will continue to speak
of God’s love and the Spirit’s peace for all.
So that even apart, people
know they are not alone,
so that when that day comes, and we know it will,
people will find a community awaiting them,
even for hiding in fear
behind closed doors.
Prayer of the Day
A spark.
that is all we need
on this day,
Imaginative God,
to light our quarantined
aloneness
so that we can burst
into bonfires
which signal to
all those around us
you are bringing to life and grace
to us, and to the whole world.
A word.
just one, little word
on this day, Poet of Pentecost,
so that we can be the voice
of all those forgotten by the world,
so that we can be the warmth
to melt all the hearts frozen by greed,
so that we might speak in that still, small voice,
and be the ones that live out,
your good news to everyone we meet.
A breeze.
a soft, gentle breeze
that stirs the curtains
on this day, Shattering Spirit.
a breeze that
will stay quiet,
and peaceful, and still
until the day comes (and it will)
for us to become that storm
of hopes to clear the despair
from all our
neighborhoods and lands.
Give us yourself
this day,
God in Community,
Holy in One,
even as we pray
as we are taught,
(The Lord’s Prayer)
Call to Reconciliation
Yes, we remain
isolated. Yes, our hopes are shuttered.
Yes, our souls are filled with fear. Yet,
on this day, we remember that God comes to such people. On this day, we celebrate that the Spirit
breathes new life. On this day, we affirm
that Jesus restores us to hew hope.
Behind closed doors, hiding from our fears let us speak of our lives as
we pray together, saying,
Unison Prayer for Forgiveness
O Pentecost’s
Spirit – if only we could tell of your wonders in our lives, yet social media
and other ways we communicate is filled with anger, bitterness, and political arguments. If only we could share how you have transformed
our lives, but we are stuck in our living spaces, hiding from what is seeking
to do us harm. If only we could pour you
out on all those who are lonely, and afraid, and worried about tomorrow, but we
are fearful of stepping outside our doors.
Even in
the closed rooms of our hearts, even with our shuttered souls, you continue to
move, to live, to breathe upon us with your mercy and your grace, God of this
day. Now, in this moment, breathe your
peace, upon us and a fearful world, so that we might be the balm for all the
anger around us. Now, on this day,
breathe your hope upon us, and a desperate world, so that we might drop it off
on the porches of all huddling in their homes.
Now, in the moments and days to come, continue to breathe your love upon
us, and an uncaring world, so that we might transform grudges into generosity,
foolishness into common sense, and rejection into being as welcoming as Jesus
Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Silence is kept
Assurance of Pardon
Listen! It
is not an old story, but ours. It may
not happen with a might wind, but with a soft whisper. But this is our Pentecost. This is our reminder that God forgives us and
fills us with all things new.
Thanks be to God! God
gives us new hope in endless days of despair, new joy in never-ending moments
of grief, and new life when we seem to have lost even the simple ability to
breathe – this day and in all the days to come. Amen. Amen.
Prayer of Dedication/Offering
Blow the dust off
our fears, Generous Spirit, so we might be more giving people. Blow
the dust off our material gifts we think are so paltry, so we might realize how
they can bring hope and life to others. Blow the dust off our
mistaken views of others, so we might see them as our sisters and brothers,
ready to grace us, even as we may bless them with these offerings. In
Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Great Prayer of Thanksgiving
May the Spirit of
Pentecost touch you this day.
And touch you, as well.
May the soft,
gentle breeze of love fill your hearts.
We open them to the Spirit
who would overflow from our hearts.
May the words of
Pentecost offer you new songs.
We will sing praise and
thanksgiving to our God.
Wow! What
you do,
God of
imagination and wonder!
You breathe your
Spirit into chaos
even the confusion in which we are living,
to shatter the
emptiness of our hearts
to reshape them into beauty.
you whispered
your Word into the silence,
and rivers raced to the oceans
and bugs creepy-crawled across meadows;
whisper your Word now
into the silence of our
isolation,
so we might see the
butterflies drifting in the air,
and see the dolphins
leaping from the waves.
Like any loving
parent, you fed creation with hope,
as you long for us to care for others,
but
we run off with tellers of lies,
we
lock ourselves in death’s quarantine.
Yet these moments of fear and worry are not new,
and so you keep sending those we call prophets.
to tell of what you are doing and will do,
yet
we continue to huddle in with sellers of fear
to shutter our hears from
such words.
So you sent Jesus
to us,
to breathe your
peace upon us
and to bring us
back to you.
With those who
continue to live in isolation
yet long to share
the Spirit with others,
we will sing your
praise forever and ever:
Holy, holy, holy are you,
Shattering Spirit.
All creation will sing until
it has no more breath.
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is the One who
stands in our midst speaking peace.
Hosanna in the highest!
Like your glory,
may your holiness be eternal,
God of wind and
flames,
and may your
Child, Jesus, bless us
with words of
wonder and joy.
Though we would sit
in our loneliness,
he
comes to be with us in love
though we would keep
our souls shuttered,
he
comes to throw them wide open
with
grace and hope.
though we would
remain hidden away
in death’s cold
upper room,
he
enters to take its power
over
us away, so the bright flames
of
the resurrection might dance
over
our lives bringing us hope.
As we would open
our hearts to the Spirit,
as we would
welcome the peace and power,
we tell of that
faith grounded in Pentecost’s mystery:
Drawing his last breath,
Christ died for us;
with the sudden breath of
the resurrection,
Christ was
raised;
Christ will return, to
breathe the Spirit into us forever.
Here in this moment,
with people gathered
wherever they are,
may you pour the
Spirit of Pentecost
upon the simple
gifts of the bread and the cup.
with the brokenness of the bread,
with the brokenness of the bread,
we pray hope
might dance upon our souls
so
we will might become a mighty wind
to
bring healing to our shattered world.
Drinking from the
cup of grace,
we pray it flow
through us
so
we might become a fountain
of
unending generosity
to
parched people
thirsting
for life.
And when that day comes
when we no longer
need
to shelter in
place or isolate from others,
you will gather
us around the Table
with our sisters
and brothers
of every time, of
every place,
breathing the
Spirit upon us,
telling us the
Word of grace and hope,
as we sing our
thanks forever and ever,
God in Community,
Holy in One. Amen.
Sending
The shutters of
our hearts have been flung open
by the fresh
breath of God!
We will go to offer God’s
love to everyone around us
even if only from our living room or porch.
Our souls have
been set on fire
by the justice of
the Brother of the poor.
We will go to share visions
of hope,
to listen to the dreams of
the oppressed,
even if only through social media,
a text, or a phone conversation.
Our loneliness
and fears will be set aside
by the Spirit of
inclusion creating community.
We will speak words of peace
to all we meet
even while maintaining a safe distance,
we will open ourselves to
the gifts of others
even as we cocoon in place because we love them.
© 2020 Thom M.
Shuman
