Koonung Heights Uniting Church
Service of Worship at Home
Pentecost – 19 May 2024 – 10am or whenever possible
You may like to light a candle during your time of worship.
Feel free to text the Peace to other members of the congregation.
Introit: “Santo, santo” – (TiS 723)
Santo, santo, santo. Mi corazón te adora!
Mi corazón te sabe decir: Santo eres Señor!
Holy, holy, holy. My heart, my heart adores you!
My heart knows how to say to you: Holy are you, Lord.
Candle Lighting:
We light this candle today
as a sign of God’s Spirit at work in the world.
May its light brighten our spirits,
and may the light of God shine through us
to brighten the world.
Acknowledgement of Country:
The Ancient of Days breathed life
into this Land and her Peoples.
From time beyond our reckoning the
Wurundjeri WoiWurrung People of the Kulin nations
have blessed this place through their care and concern.
We pay our respects to their Elders and Leaders,
past and present,
and pray for the future of their communities.
May we walk gently and respectfully on this Land.
Call to Worship:
As we gather together in this place,
let us strain our ears to hear the rush of wind
and the crackle pop of fire.
We listen for your call, God of spirit and flame.
We take our place in your unfolding creation.
Rejoice, for God’s spirit flows among us!
Rejoice, for today the church embraces transformation.
In the midst of rebirth, we join our voices in praise!
Let us worship God.
Opening Prayer:
Amazing God,
your Holy Spirit came to Jesus’ disciples,
hidden in an upper room in Jerusalem.
A powerful wind and tongues of fire were the symbols
of a new thing happening in their lives.
May your Holy Spirit burst into our lives today,
encouraging and inspiring us to proclaim boldly
the good news of Jesus Christ
who offers healing and hope to all people.
Amen.
We Sing: “Let all creation dance” – (TiS 132)
Let all creation dance in energies sublime,
as order turns with chance, unfolding space and time,
for nature’s art in glory grows,
and newly shows God’s mind and heart.
God’s breath each force unfurls, igniting from a spark
expanding starry swirls, with whirlpools dense and dark.
Though moon and sun seem mindless things,
each orbit sings: ‘Your will be done.’
Our own amazing earth, with sunlight, cloud and storms
and life’s abundant growth in lovely shapes and forms,
is made for praise, a fragile whole,
and from it’s soul heaven’s music plays.
Lift heart and soul and voice: in Christ all praises meet
and nature shall rejoice as all is made complete.
In hope be strong, all life befriend
and kindly tend creation’s song.
Invitation to Confession:
Through confession, we have the opportunity to turn our bodies to God and, as one body, name the actions and inactions that separate us from God and one another.
Let us lift our hearts and voices together in prayer.
Prayer of Confession:
Amazing God,
you invite us to wonder,
yet we confess that we find more comfort in the mundane.
We lean into the familiar
and treat the amazing as suspicious or even threatening.
We long for a routine to keep us safe from pain,
and we’re willing to give up joy in exchange.
Reshape our hearts for possibility, O God.
Awaken our senses to your wondrous work in the world,
and give us the courage and will to follow you.
All this we pray in the name of Jesus,
Amen.
Words of Assurance (Psalm 104):
The psalmist writes,
“O LORD, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
When you open your hand,
they are filled with good things.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created;
and you renew the face of the ground.”
It is through this same creative, renewing Spirit
that we experience God’s grace.
We give thanks as a renewed, forgiven people!
The Peace:
On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit enabled people from different nations and languages to not only speak to one another, but to understand each other.
Friends, in many ways, celebrating Pentecost is celebrating God’s ability to forge connection and peace among diverse people and nations.
As renewed, forgiven people, let us share the radical and unifying peace of God with one another now, saying ,“The peace of Christ be with you.”
We Sing: “Refresh my heart” – (TiS 744)
Refresh my heart, Lord, renew my love;
pour your Spirit into my soul – refresh my heart.
You set me apart, Lord to make me new;
by your Spirit lift me up, Lord; refresh my heart,
and I will worship you, Lord, with all of my heart,
and I will follow you Lord, refresh my heart.
And I will worship you, Lord, with all of my heart,
and I will follow you Lord, refresh my heart.
A Time for All:
So … Pentecost Sunday has come around again … the Sunday when we join Christians all around the world to celebrate the formation of the church when the Holy Spirit called people into community as Christ’s body. Some theologians describe Pentecost as the Church’s birthday. Others describe it as a “big bang” that brought the Church into being, for just as God’s Spirit came rushing into the world over the waters of creation, in the very beginning of Acts, God’s Spirit rushes into the world to gather and transform God’s people. However we might want to understand it, Pentecost really calls us to a posture of wonder and amazement.
Four well-known symbols help us as we remember the story of Pentecost and reflect on this special day – fire, wind, a dove and the breath of God.
Fire: Fire can be both comforting and destructive. Fire comforts as it brings warmth and light, and yet the power of fire can be destructive as it burns away the old so that the new can grow.
Dove: The dove, a central part of the Uniting Church logo, is often a sign of peace and hope. Noah sends out a dove from the ark, and when it returns with an olive branch, shows that order and calm are being restored. The Spirit takes the form of a Dove as it comes to alight on Jesus after his baptism, when we hear the affirmation that Jesus is God’s Son.
Breath of God: Breath is essential for life, and so fundamental to our being that at most times we don’t even realise that it’s there. But we feel it when it’s missing. This is what the Holy Spirit is like. It breathes life into all things. It is life-giving, sustaining, and continual.
Wind: We all know that we cannot physically see the wind, but we can feel the effects of it. This is just like the Holy Spirit. While we cannot physically see the Spirit, we can see and feel the effects of the Spirit working in our lives and in the life of the Church.
Pentecost is one of the most awe-inspiring days in the Christian calendar. To quote John Squires, “if we are willing to be transformed, it is an opportunity to be renewed in energy and faithfulness toward the work of God’s kin-dom on earth when all people will experience true liberation and boundless love.”
Pentecost is the third great Christian festival alongside Christmas and Easter, however, unlike the other two festivals, it remains untainted by temporary secular practices. There is no drinking or giving of gifts, no man in a red suit, and no public holiday enticing people to take time off. We ought to rejoice in this festival and enjoy it for what it is!
Let us pray:
Through wind and fire the Holy Spirit comes …
Spirit of Life … moving, disturbing, bright and glowing …
Spirit of Joy and Spirit of Love … gently forgiving, touch of peace,
source of new growth, whispering, loving,
and bringing together a diverse people waiting with hope.
Urging, driving the human family into the world to create and unite.
The heart of creation, moving over the waters and within us,
the Spirit of Holiness.
Amen.
Meditative Prayer:
Friends, please join me in a meditative prayer for illumination.
I invite you to bow your head
and open your non-dominant hand, palm side up.
With your finger, trace the shape of the wind on your palm
in honour of the way the Spirit can move in us.
Now, trace a flame on your palm,
remembering how God can show up in mysterious ways,
remembering how the presence of God warms and purifies us.
Now, clasp your hands, lacing your fingers together,
remembering the way in which scripture calls us into unity with one another.
With clear minds and focused hearts,
may we hear the words of scripture today
and be receptive to the way in which God speaks to us through this good word.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Bible Reading: Romans 8:22-27
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together the pains of labour, 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Bible Reading: Acts 2:1-21
– The Coming of the Holy Spirit
1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
5 Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
Peter Addresses the Crowd
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Fellow Jews and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit,
and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
20 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
Reflection:
Back in November 1967, John, Paul, George and Ringo invited us to go on a magical, mystery tour, and they promised that if we ‘rolled up’ then ‘satisfaction [was] guaranteed’. While I’m really pleased that you’ve ‘rolled up’ for worship today, I don’t think I can promise as confidently as The Beatles did, that there will be ‘satisfaction guaranteed’ after you’ve heard today’s reflection. What I can promise, however, is that we will be dealing with mystery, for the Holy Spirit is a mysterious thing, not something we can contain or understand or quantify.
In fact, when you think about it, there is much that is mysterious within our faith. There is holy mystery in God’s grace. There is holy mystery in bread and water and wine, in the shared communion meal and in the sacrament of baptism. There is holy mystery in the Triune God who became flesh. There is holy mystery in the Spirit blowing through the early church, igniting a movement among oppressed and occupied peoples that would spread across the globe. There is a holy mystery in all of these things, a mystery that we can be too quick to dismiss.
The readings we have heard today, particularly the reading from Acts 2, would be familiar to many of us. The story of the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost is one that we hear at least once a year, but we can be tempted to gloss over the mystery in our hope of understanding the facts and make sense of what is happening when the Holy Spirit is poured out over so many people, coming with a sound like a violent wind and with tongues of fire. In Paul’s letter to the Romans we are reminded of what living in the Spirit looks like, and how living in the Spirit causes us to call out for justice and live in hope. Let’s spend a little time thinking about the mystery of the Spirit as we reflect on these passages.
Part of the holy mystery of the Pentecost story, recorded in Acts, is the way in which everyone is included. The richness and importance of diversity, abundant, glorious, boundless diversity, is celebrated – diversity of gender, age and social status.
Over a dozen ethnic groups are mentioned in this famous passage, each one speaking their own language. Those gathered were from every nation, spread right across the ancient Mediterranean world. They were gathered in Jerusalem, the place the temple was based, for the important festival of Shavout, the feast of the first harvest of grain. The majority of these people would have had long journeys to Jerusalem, and for the writer of Acts, this scene would have would certainly been a gathering of all the nations.
Yet, even though these many groups are gathered, the ‘one’ Spirit communicates with each individual in the language they understand. Through this Spirit, all can understand and are connected as one family of humanity, no matter the differences between the individuals. The unity we see here is not about ‘same-ness’ of individuals, but rather about God’s Spirit which is the same for all people.
Waka Waka woman and Aboriginal Christian Leader, Brooke Prentis, has given permission to share why this story of Pentecost resonates with her so much.
‘There’s a particular festival on my country that happened for thousands of years, which is why this passage resonates with me. It’s a time of celebration when different nations gathered for the great Bunyanut Festival on Waka Waka country. History books will tell you that this ended in 1896, but my nan was born in 1931 and she was still going to the festival as a ten year old, even though colonisation meant that other nations could not join in.
Waka Waka Country is three hours drive north-west of Brisbane, and Aboriginal people from the Sydney area (that’s Gadigal country) would travel on foot to Waka Waka country for the great Bunyanut festival. It was a time of feasting and celebration, with over 40 nations of people travelling on foot for months on end to come to this festival. Even though they spoke different languages, they were able to communicate, and all enjoyed the rich protein of the bunya nut together.’
Humankind has always been sceptical, and when something new or different happens there is often pushback. We know this to be often true of ourselves, and we see this with the onlookers at Pentecost who think that everyone must be drunk. Peter explains that this isn’t so and then interprets scripture for them. Quoting from the prophet Joel, he imagines this new era for all people and all nations. He explicitly includes old and young, male and female, radically stating that God’s Spirit is for all people.
So, if the mystery of the Holy Spirit is gifted to everyone, then what does it look like to live in the Spirit? This is the question that Paul is reflecting on as he writes to the believers in Rome. Just prior to the passage we have heard, Paul explains that the Spirit bears witness that we have been adopted as God’s children and have become joint heirs with Christ (8:15–17). Because of this, Paul reflects, we can expect to share in both his sufferings and glory, though Paul believes that the glory will far outweigh any suffering.
Paul sees living in the Spirit as living in hope, and there is a call to lament together with all creation, as we look with hope to the new world that God will birth. We don’t like to lament, but we know that there is a lot to lament as we look at our country and the wider world. We can name human wars, starvation of people, the climate crisis, and the injustice shown to our First Nation’s people – and when we can name these things, we should be able to lament. It seems to me that there is a bigger question here about how we lament together as people of faith, for I believe it is vital that we do lament. We seem to have lost this art, but I wonder whether losing the ability to lament means that we are not able to move to action. We need to be people of action and we need to be people who love, calling out injustice where we see it and being co-creators in the world. Lament is not futile or despairing as it looks forward with hope, and calls us to be co-creators with God in to the hope of the future. And in some holy mystery, the Spirit steps in and intercedes for us when we have no words.
We don’t want mystery – we want certainty. We want answers wrapped up like neat packages, but that is not what we get. Instead, we get the enigmatic Spirit in whatever form she shows up. We get bread and wine and water and flame, and somehow God uses them all to impart grace upon grace to us. Thanks be to God.
Amen.
We Sing: “She sits like a bird” – (TiS 418)
She sits like a bird, brooding on the waters,
hovering on the chaos of the world’s first day;
she sighs and she sings, mothering creation,
waiting to give birth to all the Word will say.
She wings over earth, resting where she wishes,
lighting close at hand or soaring through the skies;
she nests in the womb, welcoming each wonder,
nourishing potential hidden to our eyes.
She dances in fire, startling her spectators,
waking tongues of ecstasy where dumbness reigned;
she weans and inspires all whose hearts are open,
nor can she be captures, silenced or restrained.
For she is the Spirit, one with God is essence,
gifted by the Saviour in eternal love;
she is the key opening the scriptures,
enemy of apathy and heavenly dove.
Prayer for Others (prepared by Paul Tonson)
For Pentecost let us speak the Lord’s Prayer in the variety of languages present, and do this earlier in our prayer time.
As Yahweh breathed into the human form the very breath of God, so now every human person is a habitation of the divine spirit:
Together in a spirit of prayer we channel our spiritual energy in love for others and for the world.
The Spirit that filled and flowed in the Jewish believers at Pentecost prompted them to speak about the wonder of God in their lives:
We pray for the love and wisdom we need to speak up for faith, and for love and justice in our country.
We especially think of the unemployed … the homeless … women with violent partners.
The crowds in Jerusalem heard the testimonies of the believers each in their own language:
Through our church life, Project Sow, our street sign, and our minister, may this congregation speak with the ‘language’ of voice and activities that non-faith people around us will understand.
We say together in our own language:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name;
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and 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.
The passionate faith of the believers was seen by others as flames of fire upon them:
We name in prayer those who need our warmth, those who need the light of divine wisdom that we have found …
The gathering of believers were astounded by a roaring mighty wind among them:
May the calm and quiet in this sanctuary that we love, be stirred often by the unexpected that challenges us and rejuvenates our faith.
The Spirit of Pentecost is the Spirit that led our Lord Jesus –
In the upper room, when Jesus breathed the Spirit on the disciples, he gave them one challenge: to do God’s work of forgiveness:
We name in our thoughts individuals we need to forgive, and judgemental attitudes we need to relinquish, empwered by the Spirit …
At the start of his ministry, the name Spirit of the Holy led Jesus out, to engage the world in conversation and story telling, with healing and reconciling love:
May the life of the Spirit we have breathed in here today be the breath of life that sweeps through us every day.
As we follow in the Way of Jesus, energized by the Spirit, may our stories and our care help to empower others and make a difference in the world around us.
Amen.
We Sing: “Great God, your Spirit, like the wind” – (TiS 416)
Great God, your Spirit, like the wind –
unseen but shaking this we see
will never leave us undisturbed
fulfil our dreams, or set us free,
until we turn from faithless fear
and prove the promise of your grace
in justice, peace and daily bread
with joy for all the human race.
Lord, shake us with the force of love, to rouse us from our dreadful sleep;
remove our hearts of stone, and give new hearts of flesh, to break and weep
for all your children in distress and dying for the wealth we keep.
Help us prevent, while we have time, the blighted harvest greed must reap.
And then, in your compassion, give your Spirit like the gentle rain,
creating fertile ground from which your peace and justice spring like grain;
until your love is satisfied, with all creation freed from pain,
and all your children live to praise your will fulfilled, your presence plain.
Blessing:
As we leave this place,
may we go out into the world
ready to be overwhelmed with amazement.
May we clear our throats to shout good news.
May we not shy away
from the fire and wind of the Spirit,
but rather, let it envelop and hone us
for the work of love
that God entrusts to us as the body of Christ.
Go in peace to love all creation!
Amen.
Thanks to all those who have assisted in preparation for this liturgy with encouragement, prayers and conversation. I have also utilised the following resources: Sanctified Art, Ministry Matters, www.workingpreacher.com and By The Well podcast.