EIGHTH DAY FAITH COMMUNITY
Celebration of Pentecost
The church began in the passionate blaze of the Spirit, when boundaries of language and cultures were transcended for a time, and all heard the good news in their own language. The consuming fervor of the disciples communicated itself to all who encountered them and allowed for the remarkable spread of the Gospel throughout the known world. Ecstasy is only part of the story, however. The work of living the Gospel depends more on sure, slow, steady, patient work—attentiveness, prayer, sacrifice, action—a depth of commitment that is at the heart of a Gospel life.
CALL TO WORSHIP (Please stand.)
Leader: Spirit of life
All: Fill us with fiery zeal.
Leader: Spirit of power
All: Stir our hearts afresh.
Leader: Spirit of love.
All: Touch us, and through us, our neighbor.
Leader: Spirit of creativity
All: Enable and empower the gifts that you have given to us.
Leader: Spirit of eternity.
All: Draw us ever closer to you.
HYMN (Please stand.)
LAMENTATION AND CONFESSION
ALL: O, God, in whom we gladly live and move and have our being, we come in the midst of this creation-glory knowing sin’s shadow and feeling death’s darkness: around us in the earth sea and sky, in the abuse of matter, beside us in the broken, the hungry and poor, the sick, in the betrayal of one another; and often deep within us, in a striving against your Spirit.
Silence
All: God is forgiveness, dare to forgive and God will be with you. God is forgiveness, love and do not fear.
WELCOME OF VISITORS
CEREMONY OF MEMBERSHIP (RE) COMMITMENT
PASSING OF THE PEACE
HYMN (Please stand.)
READING OF THE SCRIPTURES
THE TEACHING (followed by brief silence)
COMMUNITY PRAYERS
Closing: Lord’s Prayer
THE GATHERING OF GIFTS
All: For the Giver, for the gifts, praise, praise, praise.
CELEBRATION OF COMMUNION
Celebrant: The table of bread and wine is now ready.
People: It is the table of company with Jesus and all who love him.
Celebrant: It is the table of sharing with the poor of the world, with whom Jesus identified himself.
People: It is the table of communion with the earth in which Christ became incarnate.
Celebrant: So come to this table, you who have much faith and you who would like to have more; you who have been here often and you who have not been here for some time; you who have tried to follow Jesus, and you who have stumbled or failed. Come, it is Christ who invites us to meet him here.
People: Blessed is our brother Jesus, who walks with us on the road of our world’s suffering, and who is known to us in the breaking of the bread.
Celebrant: On the night of his arrest, Jesus took bread and having asked God’s blessing on it, he broke the bread and gave it to his disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
The bread is broken.
In the same way, Jesus took wine and having given thanks for it, he poured it out and gave the cup to his disciples, saying, “This cup is the new relationship with God, sealed with my blood. Take this and share it with one another.”
The wine is poured.
Come, it is Christ who invites you to this table to serve and be served.
CLOSING COMMUNION PRAYER
All: Having shared our bread, we know that we are no longer hungry. It is enough that you see us for ourselves. That we see you for yourself. That we bless what we see, and do not borrow, do not use one another. This is how we know that we are no longer hungry . . . that the world is full of terror, full of beauty and yet we are not afraid to find solace here. To be bread for each other. To love. (Gunilla Norris)
HYMN (Please stand.)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
CLOSING BLESSING (Please stand and say together.)
Exhuberant Spirit of God, speaking words that leap over barriers of mistrust to convey messages of truth and new understanding, we praise you.
Exhuberant Spirit of God,
flame
wind
speech,
Burn, breathe, speak in us;
Fill your world with justice and with joy.
(Jan Berry)