Welcome:  –

Call to Worship:  – 

(Psalm 104:24-35) NIV

 ²⁴ How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
²⁵ There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number— living things both large and small.

²⁶ There the ships go to and fro, and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

²⁷ All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time.
²⁸ When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.
²⁹ When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath,  they die and return to the dust.
³⁰ When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.

³¹ May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works—
³² he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

³³ I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the Lord.
³⁵ But may sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more.

Prayer of Praise

Lord, as we worship today on Pentecost Sunday, give us a vision. Move us by your Holy Spirit. Bring good news to us all. Bring freedom and peace to broken people, And let us get a taste of Heaven here on Earth. Open our eyes to see you as you are. And open our hearts to praise you. Amen!

You are invited to listen to or join in singing 2 Songs:

‘We are marching in the light of God TiS 666’

Prayer of Confession

(Responsive)

God of grace and God of glory, in your glory may we find grace, and in your grace may we find your glory.

Shed your light around us and within us, that the shabby things we do and the shabby things that inhabit the dark recesses of our minds, may be revealed for what they are.

Please do not allow us to hide from the unpalatable truth, or having glimpsed the truth, do not permit us to cover up our tardy response with vain self-justifications.

Mercifully confront us, expose, judge and reclaim us from all evil. Forgive both our sins and our excuses.

Help us, wherever it is possible, to humbly apologise and make restitution to those whom we have wronged.

Let your grace abound in our lives, enabling us to merciful towards any who have wronged us, and supportive of those who have failed badly and seek a new start.

In the name of Christ Jesus our Saviour, we ask this.

Amen!

Assurance of Forgiveness

“This is the testimony of God: That God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. They who have the Son of God have life.”

Receive the grace of God’s Son and begin anew, no longer dragging your feet for shame.

Our sins are forgiven.

Thanks be to God.

Prayer of illumination  –

Leading into the Bible readings.

Grant us, O Lord, the light of Your wisdom that we may shine with joy on this day of commemoration. We desire to follow the path You have taught us, seeking in wonder, understanding of eternal life. As we celebrate Pentecost Sunday, fill our souls with illumination that heightens our relationship with You.

Amen.

Bible Readings

Acts 2:1-21 (NIV)

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues^[a] as the Spirit enabled them.

⁵ Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶ When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. ⁷ Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,^[b] 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome ¹¹ (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” ¹² Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

¹³ Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

Peter Addresses the Crowd

¹⁴ Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. ¹⁵ These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! ¹⁶ No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ¹⁷ “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
¹⁸ Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy. ¹⁹ I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.  ²⁰ The sun will be turned to darkness     and the moon to blood
    before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. ²¹ And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord will be saved.’^[c]

This is the Word of God

Praise to you Almighty God.

John 15:26-27 (NIV)

The Work of the Holy Spirit

²⁶ “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. ²⁷ And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

John 16:4b-15 (NIV)

⁴ I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, ⁵ but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. ⁷ But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin, because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹ and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³ But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

This is the Gospel of our Lord

Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.

You are invited to listen to or join in singing the hymn: ‘Mine eyes have seen the glory’

Songwriters: John William Steffe / Julia Ward Howe / Peter Knight

 Sermon: –

Theme: Spirit of the Church

Prayer: Loving Lord, let your spirit of love dwell in us as we share your words, Amen.

Pentecost was the second great festival of the Jewish year.  It was a harvest festival when the first fruits of the grain harvest were presented to God (Lev 23:17).  In like manner Pentecost symbolizes for the church the beginning of God’s harvest for souls in the world.

On the Jewish feast day of Pentecost, the disciples get what they have been waiting for.  The Holy Spirit, the presence of God himself, takes up residence inside ordinary bodies – their bodies. 

The disciples hit the streets with a bold new style that the world has never recovered from.  Soon everyone in Jerusalem is talking about the Jesus followers. Clearly, something is afoot.  To their amazement, pilgrims from all over the world hear the Galileans’ message in their own native languages.

Peter, coward apostle who denied Christ three times to save his own neck, brazenly takes on both Jewish and Roman authorities.  Quoting from King David and the prophet Joel, he proclaims that his audience has just lived through the most important event of all history. “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact,” he says and goes on to declare Jesus as the very Messiah, the fulfillment of the Jews’ long-awaited dream.

Three thousand people respond to Peter’s powerful message on that first day.  And thus the Christian church is born.

Filled with the Holy Spirit.  What is the significance of the filling with the Holy Spirit a Pentecost?

1^st – It meant the beginning of the fulfillment of the God’s promise in Joel 2:28-29 to pour out his Spirit on all his people in the end times. (Matthew 3:11, John 1:33).

2^nd – Since the last days of this age had begun (vs 17; Hebrew 1:2; 1 Peter 1:20), everyone was now confronted with the decision to repent and believe in Christ. (Matthew 3:11; John 1:33).

3^rd – The disciples were ‘Clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:29), enabling them to witness for Christ and to be people through whom the Holy Spirit could bring great conviction on the lost in relation to sin, righteousness and God’s judgement, and turn the lost from sin to salvation in Christ. (Roman 15:19; John 16:8).

4^th – The Holy Spirit revealed his nature as Spirit who longs and strives for the salvation of people of every nation.  Those who received the baptism in the Holy Spirit were filled with the same longing for the salvation of the human race (vs 38-40: Roman 9:1-3).  Thus, Pentecost is the beginning of world missions.

5^th – The disciples became ministers of the Spirit.  They not only preached Jesus crucified and resurrected, leading others to repentance and faith in Christ, but hey also influenced converts to receive the ‘gift of the Holy Spirit” (vs 38-39), whom they themselves had received at Pentecost.  This leading others into the baptism in the Holy Spirit is the key to the apostolic work in the New Testament.

6^th – Through this baptism in the Spirit Christ’s followers became successors to his earthly ministry.  They continued to do and to teach, in the power of the Holy Spirit, the same things that Jesus “began both to do and to teach” (John 14:12).

So the Church is not to be understood primarily as a means to the end of transforming society.  This would be to trample over the uniqueness and infinite worth to God of the Christian community. 

Besides, the amazing and profound fact is that the Church most transform society when it is itself growing and being perfected in the love of Christ.

In fact when the Church is taken merely as a means to transform society, very little is accomplished.  For in that case the uniqueness of the Church is denied and we enter the battle on the same terms as secular and godless forces.  We assume the battle for right and justice can be won by force, by technique, by doing.

It can’t.  These very clearly are not the weapons of Christian warfare (Eph. 6:10-20).  Truly Christian transformation of culture comes through Christ-like (and hence sacrificial) love, community and being.

But this fact by no means cancels out the responsibility to do, to act, to walk in the words of God.  Rather, the being and the doing go together.  The being is fundamental, but the doing is the natural result.

If Jesus Christ actually gave more time to preparing a community of disciples than to proclaiming the good news (which he did), then the contemporary church must also recognize the importance of community for proclamation.  I would emphasize the priority of community in two direction:….in relation to the individual believer and in relation to witness.

In the first place community is important for the individual believer.  Mainline Protestantism, from its structures to is hymns and gospel songs, has emphasised the individual person’s responsibility before God but little corresponding sense of the communal life of the Christian.

Too often the church has been seen more as a mere collection of saved souls than as a community of interacting personalities.  Christian growth has been a matter of individual soul culture rather than the building of the community of the Spirit.  Saints who lived isolated, solitary lives were often placed on a pedestal above those whose lives were spent in true community.  These tendencies, or course, were part of Protestantism’s pre-Reformation heritage.

But four biblical truths should call us back to the priority of community;

1^st – the concept of the people of God,

2^nd – the model of Christ with his disciples,

3^rd – the example of the early church, and

4^th – the explicit teachings of Jesus and the apostles.

The Spirit is thus the earthly presence of the glorified Lord.  In the Spirit Christ becomes Lord of his Church, and in the Spirit the resurrected Lord acts both in the community and in the individual.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Let us pray. 

O Lord Jesus Christ, who, before ascending into heaven did promise to send the Holy Spirit to finish Your work in the souls of Your Apostles and Disciples, design to grant the same Holy Spirit to us today, that he may perfect in our soul, the work of Your grace and Your Love. Amen

You are invited to listen to or join in singing the Hymn TiS 597 – ‘Master Speak thy servant heareth’

Offering Prayer

“For the life that you have given”  TiS774 

[This hymn is being sung to the tune Austria – there is no introduction.]

[This YouTube clip is for another hymn so disregard the words – only the one verse is needed.]

For the life that you have given,

For the love in Christ made known,

With these fruits of time and labour,

With these gifts that are your own:

Here we offer, Lord, our praises;

Heart and mind and strength we bring;

Give us grace to love and serve you,

Living what we pray and sing.

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Prayers for Others

(Responsive)

Lord God, heavenly Father, when You filled the disciples with the Holy Spirit, 3,000 souls were called, gathered, enlightened and sanctified.

Likewise, fill our congregation, our Synod and the whole Christian Church on earth with the Holy Spirit.

Renew us, that the Sacraments may be administered faithfully and many more would be called by the Gospel, enlightened with Your gifts, sanctified and kept in the true faith. Lord, in Your mercy,

hear our prayer.

Almighty God, You delivered Your Word through Moses and the prophets and fulfilled Your Word in Christ.

He was planted in death for our sins and raised for our justification, and in Him shall all the nations of the earth be united.

Give us pastors who will preach this truth faithfully and church workers who are devoted to Your service. Lord, in Your mercy,

hear our prayer.

Almighty God, You have promised that all who drink from Your living water will well up to eternal life.

Help us show forth in holy lives the fruits of the Spirit and live with love toward our neighbour.

Remove all pride, prejudice and hate, that we may not hinder the cause of the Gospel shamefully but give welcome to all people in Christ’s name. Lord, in Your mercy,

hear our prayer.

Lord of hosts, we give thanks for those who have served our nation through military service, and we remember with gratitude those who gave their lives for us and the cause of freedom.

Help us to honour their sacrifice by using our liberty responsibly.

Keep safe all who travel, bless our nation, and help us to protect and increase the privileges we have for those who follow us, looking always to You, from whom these gifts come. Lord, in Your mercy,

hear our prayer.

Light of this dark world, You have sent the Holy Spirit to Your Church as the comforter.

Soothe the wounds of Your people.

According to Your will, bring restoration to broken families, heal the sick, uplift the depressed, provide for the poor, uphold the forgotten and answer the prayers of all who call out to You for aid. Lord, in Your mercy,

hear our prayer.

O Lord, Giver of the Holy Spirit, clear away all distractions, that our hearts and minds may be focused on You.

As Christ comes to us in the bread which is His body and the cup of His blood, help us to receive Your gifts with faith and to live from them.

Receive our praise and thanksgiving together with the tithes and offerings we bring, as tokens of our trust in You. Lord, in Your mercy,

hear our prayer.

Almighty Father, with Your Son, Jesus Christ, send Your Holy Spirit into our hearts through Your Word to rule and govern us according to Your will.

Comfort us in every temptation and misfortune, and defend us against every error, that we may continue steadfast in the faith, increase in love and good works,

and — trusting firmly in Your grace for us by His death — obtain eternal salvation; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

Sacrament of Communion 

(following Uniting in Worship 2 p162 to p222)

The Peace

The peace of the Lord be always with you.

And also with you.

The Invitation

Christ, our Lord, invites to his Table all who love him, all who earnestly repent of their sin and who seek to live in peace with one another.

Prayer of Approach

Lord God, we come to your Table, trusting in your mercy and not in any goodness of our own.  We are not worthy even to gather up the crumbs under your table, but it is your nature always to have mercy, and on that we depend.  So, feed us with the body and blood of Jesus Christ, your son, that we may for ever live in him and he in us. Amen.

Narrative of the Institution of the Lord’s Supper

Hear the words of the institution of this Sacrament as recorded by the Apostle Paul:

  “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is my body which is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.’  In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new Covenant in my blood.  Do this, as often as you drink it, for the remembrance of me.  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.’”  (1 Corinthians 11: 23 to 26) 

  And, so, according to our Saviour’s command, we set this bread and this cup apart for the Holy Supper to which he calls us, and we come to God with our prayers of thanksgiving.

Great Prayer of Thanksgiving

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

With all we are, we give you glory, God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the one and holy God, Sovereign of all Time and Space.  We thank you for this wide red land, for its rugged beauty, for its changing seasons, for its diverse people, and for all that lives upon this fragile Planet.  You have called us to be the Church in this place, to give voice to every creature under Heaven.  We rejoice with all that you have made, as we join the company of Heaven in their song:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, Heaven and Earth are full of your glory.  Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed be the One who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest.

We thank you that you called a covenant people to be the light to the Nations.  Through Moses you taught us to love your Law, and, in the Prophets, you cried out for justice.  In the fullness of your mercy, you became one with us in Jesus Christ, who gave himself up for us on the cross.  You make us alive together with him, that we may rejoice in his presence and share his peace.  By water and the Spirit, you open the Kingdom to all who believe, and welcome us to your Table: for by grace we are saved through faith.  With this bread and this cup we do as our Saviour commands: we celebrate the redemption he has won for us.

Christ has died.  Christ is risen.  Christ will come again.

Pour out the Holy Spirit on us and on these gifts of bread and the cup, that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.  Make us one with him, one with each other, and one in ministry in the World, until at last we feast with him in the Kingdom.  Through your Son, Jesus Christ, in your holy Church, all honour and glory are yours, Father Almighty, now and for ever.

Blessing and honour and glory and power are yours for ever and ever.  Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil,

For the Kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours,

now and forever.  Amen.

Breaking of the Bread

The bread we break is a sharing in the body of Christ.

The cup we take is a sharing in the blood of Christ.

The gifts of God for the People of God.

Lamb of God

Jesus, Lamb of God,

Have mercy on us.

Jesus, bearer of our sins,

Have mercy on us.

Jesus, redeemer of the World,

Grant us peace.

The Distribution

Receive this Holy Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, and feed upon him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

(after all have received the bread)

The body of Christ keep you in eternal life.

(after all have received the juice)

The blood of Christ keep you in eternal life.

Prayer after Communion

Blessed be God who calls us together.

Praise to God who makes us one People.

Blessed be God who has forgiven our sins.

Praise to God who gives us hope and freedom.

Blessed be God whose Word is proclaimed.

Praise to God who is revealed as the One who loves.

Blessed be God who alone has called us.

Therefore, we offer to God all that we are and all that we shall become.

Accept, O God, our sacrifice of praise.

Accept our thanks for we have seen the greatness of your love.  Amen.

You are invited to listen to or join in singing hymn: TiS 547 – ‘Be thou my vision , O Lord of my heart’

Benediction 

And may the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, rest upon you and remain with you always.  Amen.

You are invited to listen to or join in singing the Benediction Song: ‘Now unto Him who is able to keep’

Now unto Him who is able to keep,

Able to keep you from falling

And present you faultless before the presence of his glory

With exceeding Joy

To the only wise God our Saviour

Be glory and majesty

Dominion and power both now and forever,

Amen