Alternate texts liturgy w/communion for June 8, 2025 (Pentecost - C)

Texts: Genesis 11:1-9; Psalm 104:24-35; Acts 2:1-21; John 14:8-17; 25-27

Call to Worship
Before so many, there was one language.
After Pentecost, we are one in the Spirit.
All that is fragmented, God mends.
All that is blurred, God makes clear with love.
The breath of life, the wind on the air,
the Spirit stirs us out of weariness.
While tongues of fire rekindle hope,
warming hearts chilled by fear.
So come now, Holy Spirit –
fill this place, shatter our worries,
unclog our ears, loosen our tongues
Make us new in these moments,
so we can go and speak grace
to those longing to listen.

Prayer of the Day
God of every tongue and people,
if we believe, we no longer
need to build skyscrapers to the sky
but can offer affordable housing
to those who need it most.
If we believe, we have no need
for divisions or tribes or cliques,
but can walk in community with others,
speaking the common language of love.

Jesus who showed us God
in your words, your life, your love,
if we believe, we have no need
for amazing acts or astounding deeds
but can work for justice for those
whose conditions are unbearable.
if we believe, we no longer
need to favor the privileged and powerful
but can care for the most vulnerable.

Spirit who speaks through silence,
if we believe, we have no need
to rely on might and weapons
but can share work for peace
in all the places torn apart by war.
if we believe, we no longer
need to promote differences
but work to reconcile all people.

If we believe,
we might just experience
you burning through our doubts,
making us more alive than alike,
and giving us voices to sing
your name in every dialect of grace,
God in Community, Holy in One,
even as we offer your prayer
(The Lord’s Prayer)

Call to Reconciliation
It seems so simple – this commandment to love. Yet, you know as well as I do how hard it is to love the unlikeable, the stranger, or whoever. We know that our love does not shine through in some of the things we say or do, or those words we don’t speak or the kindness we cannot offer. Yet, because God continues to love us, we dare to bring our lives in hope and faith. Join me, as we pray together saying,

Unison Prayer for Forgiveness
   The winds begin to pick up, and we rush to close the windows. You would send flames to dance on our hearts, God of mercy, and we look for buckets of water. You whisper new words of compassion to us, and we still utter the same unkind taunts. You would send us out into the world, and we cling to one another for safety behind the locked doors of our fears.
   Breath of God, Spirit of Grace, forgive us, we pray. Brush aside all our excuses for staying safe. Blow aside the walls we build to protect us, especially from you. Make us new people – your new people – even as we long to cling to the good old days, the comfortable ways. This we pray in the name of the One who promised us the gift of your Spirit, Jesus our Brother. Amen.

Silence is kept

Assurance of Grace
Listen carefully, beloved of God. The Spirit does not come to shame us. No. The Spirit shapes us into daredevil disciples, shaken from our fears and awakened to share God’s grace with everyone.
By God’s grace, we are given new words. By Jesus’ mercy, forgiveness pours out upon us. By the presence of the Spirit, we are sent to bring compassion, justice, and hope to all people. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Prayer of Dedication/Offering
We pray you will bless these tangible gifts we offer to you, Loving God. But more, we pray your Spirit will continue blow open our tight grip on all we have, so that others might receive those gifts which feed them, clothe them, house them, and remind them they are part of your Beloved Community. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Sacrament of Communion

Invitation
All they had was a promise.
They weren’t sure what it meant
and didn’t know when it would come.
And so they gathered in a room
huddling in both fear and hope,
waiting.
Then,
came that wind which
blew open their closed souls,
then came that fire which
melted their frozen hearts,
then came those words
which they didn’t know they had,
then came that life
when they thought all was dead.
Now, we gather,
in another room,
waiting, hoping, fearful.
We are here, not because we are holy,
but because we hunger
for that Spirit, those flames,
those words, that new life.
We gather in a room too.
we wait for the same Spirit.
We come not because we are holy,
but because we are hungry.
So come to this table
which, by the Spirit,
is big enough for all,
with bread more than enough,
with the cup overflowing with grace.

Great Prayer of Thanksgiving
May the Spirit breathe on you in this moment.
May the Breath of life rest on you.
Come, let us offer thanks to God,
who creates, who redeems, who sends.
We open our hearts to the One
whose heart welcomes all.
Let us, with words and music and love
sing our praises to God.
We join our voices with all
who say ‘thank you!’ to God.

When the only language
was the silence of chaos,
you spoke that Word which brought
everything you carried in your imagination
to life, Author of all that is good.
Universes filled with wonders,
seas that teemed with life still unknown,
creatures that boggle our minds.
Shaped in your image, filled with your Breath,
you longed for us to learn the words of grace,
but we babbled away in the language
of pride and narcissism temptation taught us.
Time and again, those women and me
we called prophets came to call us back to you,
but we just laughed in their faces
as we kept lifting ourselves above you.
Finally, when we persisted in pride,
you asked your Word to take on flesh,
becoming one of us in Jesus.

So, now with those who always
know the right words to say
and all who are still struggling to learn,
we offer our thanksgiving to you:

Holy, holy, holy are you, Wind Rider.
Giggling babies and tongue-tied believers
join all creation in praising you.
Hosanna in the highest!

Blessed is the One who shares the Spirit.
Hosanna in the highest!

In your holiness, Loving God,
you chose to topple us
off our self-made pedestals
by becoming a helpless baby.
Jesus came walking dusty roads
where the arrogant had ended
after toppling off Babel’s tower.
He continually challenged the powerful
while gathering those left out in the cold
and warming them with the Spirit’s fire.
After giving voice to the voiceless
he silenced the shouts of death
and with his resurrection
gave hope to the hopeless.

As we gather around this Table
in remembrance of his death and resurrection,
we speak of that faith which is such a mystery:

Christ died, believing in God’s promises.
Christ was raised, believing in God’s love.
Christ will come, believing that we are all
one in God’s love, whatever our language.

So now, in this space, with this people,
we pray, ‘Come, Holy God,
pour out your Spirit of newness
on those gathered for your feast.’
May your Spirit rest upon the bread
which, though broken,
can make us whole to serve others
who are lonely, or afraid, or forgotten.
May your Spirit rest upon this cup,
which can fill those who thirst for hope,
can tough those who hunger for healing,
may comfort those who see peace.

And, when all time has come to an end,
and you gather us around your Feast,
make us one, we pray,
make us a family, we pray,
make us yours, we pray,
God in Community, Holy in One,
make us yours. Amen.

Sending
Go now with wind in your sails.
We will journey with God
across the wide seas of grace.
Go now with fire in your soul.
We will go out into our communities
to speak and serve in love with Jesus.
Go now to be the Beloved Community.
We will go with the whispers
of the Spirit in our hearts, turning
them into words all people understand.

© 2025 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman