It’s another beautiful day in the Fingerlakes as we celebrate Pentecost. Enjoy the sun shine and cooler temperatures today. This is our virtual service for FPCU. You will see that this post looks similar to a bulletin but with media. Please worship along with Pastor Dan, Steve Little(Poetry reciter and author), Pam Postle(Poetry reciter) and music from Joe Pepper. Thank You Steve and Pam for their special contributions to our service this week.
Pastoral Welcome and Church Announcements
Prelude
*Call to Worship
*HYMN#289 “On Pentecost They Gathered”
The Music Will Play Again
(S.E. Little)
Can you remember 1971?
I was 17 and full of fun.
A two-door car and AM radio
That car was my music studio
I remember almost all the hits
Was sad that Jeremiah won it all
A few of these tunes fit the times we’re in
Amazing Grace would make the call
And as we look for the sacred store
Where we heard the music just months before
We hope the man there will find a find a way
To make the music play again, someday
50 years on, Judy went to the coast
Found the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
She fixed the church bells that were broken
Amazing Grace again was spoken.
(Excerpted from American Pie, Don McLean 1971)
Old Testament Reading
Joel 2:28
2:28 Then afterward
I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
New Testament Reading
Acts 2:1-13
2 1-4 When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.
5-11 There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, “Aren’t these all Galileans? How come we’re hearing them talk in our various mother tongues?… “They’re speaking our languages, describing God’s mighty works!”
12 Their heads were spinning; they couldn’t make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: “What’s going on here?”
13 Others derided them with scorn, “They’re drunk on cheap wine.”
The Message (MSG)
[1] Many events in the life of Jesus and his followers happened on Jewish holidays.[1] Passover, Rosh Hashanah, the festival of the first fruits, Purim, the festival of Weeks to name a few. Today’s major event takes place during the Jewish Festival of Weeks aka Shauvot, aka Pentecost.
Shauvot, the Jewish Pentecost has dual significance. It celebrates the wheat harvest in the land of Israel and the reception of the Ten Commandments. “From a Jewish perspective, what happens in Acts 2, our New Testament text for today is a reenactment of… a second Sinai. The booming of the wind… like the thundering at Sinai, and the tongues of fire over the disciples’ heads were akin to the time when the cleft tongue, (coming) out of the mouth of God (as God) uttered the 10 Commandments.”
The Targum Neofiti, an ancient Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Bible describes the giving of the 10 Commandments by the mouth of God, ‘like torches of fire, a torch of fire to the right… a torch of flame to the left, it flew… swiftly into the air… and turned around and became visible in all the camps of Israel (before) becom(ing) engraved on the two tablets of the covenant.’”[1]
*The Jewish and Christian seasons of Pentecost have much in common where humans interact with fire controlled by God. In both, the gathered people play with fire and do not get burned! It’s a description of the great Mysterium Et Tremendum: the Awesome Nature of God that like the ferocious wind and fire at the same time repels and attracts us. Out of the Pentecost event, a life changing, world changing movement was created. For those of us on the New Testament side, it became known as the birth of the church.
[i] Many events in the life of Jesus and his followers happened on Jewish holidays.[i] Passover, Rosh Hashanah, the festival of the first fruits, Purim, the festival of Weeks to name a few. Today’s major event takes place during the Jewish Festival of Weeks aka Shauvot, aka Pentecost.
Shauvot, the Jewish Pentecost has dual significance. It celebrates the wheat harvest in the land of Israel and the reception of the Ten Commandments. “From a Jewish perspective, what happens in Acts 2, our New Testament text for today is a reenactment of… a second Sinai. The booming of the wind… like the thundering at Sinai, and the tongues of fire over the disciples’ heads were akin to the time when the cleft tongue, (coming) out of the mouth of God (as God) uttered the 10 Commandments.”
The Targum Neofiti, an ancient Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Bible describes the giving of the 10 Commandments by the mouth of God, ‘like torches of fire, a torch of fire to the right… a torch of flame to the left, it flew… swiftly into the air… and turned around and became visible in all the camps of Israel (before) becom(ing) engraved on the two tablets of the covenant.’”[i]
The Jewish and Christian seasons of Pentecost have much in common where humans interact with fire controlled by God. In both, the gathered people play with fire and do not get burned! It’s a description of the great Mysterium Et Tremendum: the Awesome Nature of God that like the ferocious wind and fire at the same time repels and attracts us. Out of the Pentecost event, a life changing, world changing movement was created. For those of us on the New Testament side, it became known as the birth of the church.
Sermon
*HYMN #288 “Spirit of the Living God”
Pastoral and Silent Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Offertory Music
Offertory
*HYMN #606 “Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow”
Prayer of Dedication
HYMN#290 “O Day of Joy and Wonder”
The Benediction
You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, Gods own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of God who called you out of the darkness into the marvelous light. Once you were no people, but now you are God’s people; Once you have not received mercy, but now you have received mercy; therefore, my friends go with the Spirit, living as servants of God.
1 Peter 2:9-10
Postlude
*Portions of today’s liturgy is from Psalms and Prayers by B. David Hostetter, p. 83.
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