If you are interested in becoming a member, please contact Pastor Murray at 631-727-2621. We are an open and affirming member of the United Church of Christ and no matter who you are or where you are in life's journey, you are welcome here.
Announcements:
Our newest issue of the Beacon Light is available under the above tab. Learn all about what is going on in our church.
June 4th at 4:00, Jeff Wentz is treating us to a special piano concert in our church sanctuary. Reception to follow.
June 17 from 9-1, we will be having our annual yard sale behind the church by the garage. The thrift shop will be open, also.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88517704747?pwd=bmJZenJNUFlHK2I1eHl4dHFmbmRsdz09
Meeting ID: 885 1770 4747
Password: 7272621
Pentecost Sunday
A Service of the Word
May 28, 2023 ( 10am
OPENING WORDS:
We open our hearts to the presence of God and worship together.
PRELUDE: Flute Pastorale
Once the music begins we ask that you would please maintain respectful silence.
*CHORAL INTROIT:
We are here this day to share God's love.
We have come with burdens and cares,
For within this place, we are bound as one
In this fellowship we share.
*CALL TO WORSHIP:
One: The peace of God be with you today.
Receive with joy the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Many: We feel the winds of God blowing among us.
We sense the tongues of fire empowering us.
One: How amazing is the power God gives us.
How manifold are the works of our creator.
Many: The breath of God fills us with confidence.
The Spirit creates new life within and among us.
One: God calls us to be dreamers and prophets.
God gives us a vision for a world of peace.
Many: May the glory of God endure forever.
We will sing praise to God as long as we live.
*HYMN: Let Every Christian Pray No. 261
https://youtu.be/zwViZ5dW47Q
WELCOME
PRAYER OF INVOCATION
Powerful God, whose ways are beyond our knowing, we long to grow spiritually. We are thirsty for the living water you have promised to those who seek. We are eager to catch the Spirit, to be set on fire with confidence and trust to use the gifts you have given. Let Pentecost happen again in the gathering of your people. Inspire us to witness to your love and prophesy in your name. Give us courage to speak of your deeds of power, and to take the risks of daring discipleship. Amen.
PASSING OF THE PEACE
ANNOUNCEMENTS, CELEBRATIONS AND CONCERNS
Piano Concert: Save the date-Jeff Wentz is treating us to a special piano concert on June 4 at 4:00 pm here at the church.
Save the date: The church will be having a yard sale on Saturday June 17th from 9am until 1pm.
A TIME OF PRAYER:
( Pastoral Prayer
Creator God, we give thanks for the amazing diversity of people and cultures living on the islands and continents of your beautiful earth, for rocks and trees, for skies and seas. We give thanks for the colors of creation and seas teeming with life. May we see the vastness of oceans as what connects us rather than what separates us.
All-knowing God, whose gifts to us evoke a variety of activities and services for the common good, guide us to use all the resources you grant us to build up for the body of Christ, and empower the church's ministry, extending the good news to those who suffer, who ignore, who doubt and deny, that all may be drawn together by the one Spirit to the peace you give and the high purpose to which you call us.
We pray for those adversely affected by earthquakes, volcanoes and hurricanes, and for those dealing with the legacy of with careless waste management polluting the land, water, and air. We pray for wisdom and compassion for leaders in governance. O God, as we see rising tides of hate, especially against people of color, save our shores from the weapons of death. Protect us from that which denies our young ones love and freedom. Let each child swim and breathe the fresh air that is filled with your Holy Spirit. Bless all who stand as makers of peace and breakers of hate, as we dare to dream that all the peoples of the world may live happily as one….
( Silent Prayer
( 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 and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not
into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is
the kingdom, the power, and the glory, now and forever. Amen.
MISSION MOMENT: Strengthen the Church
OFFERING
& OFFERTORY: I Hear America Singing Thomas
*DOXOLOGY AND BLESSING OF GIFTS:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise God, all creatures here below;
Praise God above you heavenly host:
Creator, Christ, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
SCRIPTURE LESSONS:
( Numbers 11:24-30 OT Page 121
( Psalms 104 HYMNAL Page 690
( Acts 2:1-21 NT Page 102
(John 20:19-23 NT Page 101
SERMON: “A Touch of the Divine”
Pentecost should be a big deal in our churches. It marks the pouring out of God’s Spirit on the people, the birthday of the church. It was THE day when diverse people of diverse nations all felt the touch of God, and proclaimed God’s goodness. It was THE day of new signs and wonders, miracles and blessings. It should be a big deal, but it isn’t.
It likely doesn’t help that Pentecost falls on Memorial Day weekend. There is another focus, and oddly, it’s not even so much on Memorial Day itself but on the unofficial start of summer, the gift of a three-day weekend, barbeques and the gathering of friends. The gifts of God, the Divine touch of God upon the people, is largely overlooked.
And yet for the faithful, I think even with the mixed foci of the weekend, there’s a way to bring God and the gifts of God to the people of God back into the forefront. It lies in our ability to see God’s divine touch in what we have and do.
For me, this time of year of always clearly marked by the glory of springtime blossoms. I love that the gardens and trees all come alive, seemingly come back to life, with beauty of a vast array of colors. There’s clearly a touch of the divine in that.
The gatherings of family and friends, the foods and fellowship, the festivities of even things like mosaics on the street, I take as gifts from God, clear evidence that the blessings of God still come upon, even remain upon, the people. And the heroic lives of men and women whom we’re called to remember on this weekend, lives that were lost in the fight of good over evil, for freedom and respect, for higher and holier values, they too were gifts of God to us, touches of the Divine for the good of God’s people. But, I know, such understanding, the view of the holy in the midst of the celebrations and remembrances is rare. But maybe, just maybe we can brings in the focus, even for us.
The account we heard from Acts is read every year at Pentecost, consequently it's the most familiar of the three. We'll start there.
Devote Jews "from every nation" had gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost, a Greek term meaning 50 days, for it was 50 days after Passover. Today this same Jewish holiday is called the Feast of Weeks in English, and Shavuot in Hebrew. The holiday celebrates the anniversary of the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai. The apostles were all together in the house among a mixed crowd. That's when it happened. There was the noise of the mighty windstorm that filled the house, and "divided tongues of fire" rested on each of the apostles. Then the apostles started speaking in tongues, in the native languages of the gathered. And it was no idle talk, but a proclamation of the mighty deeds of God. It was shocking. Peter clarifies the ensuing confusion. The currents of the sound of wind, the flame, and the holy proclamation were the product of the outpouring of God's spirit. He tells them that God's spirit is a new current of blessing and with it will come holy prophesy, visions, and dreams -- for men and women, and the young and old alike.
None had expected it. They came to celebrate the Law of Moses, to observe their old Jewish traditions and faith. Instead, they get the gift of clear signs, and words of blessing that reveal the very Spirit of God in their midst. It was truly a Divine Touch.
Yet even as explained in our first lesson from Numbers, this divine touch is easy to misinterpret. Moses had gathered with 70 elders in a tent of meeting, and we read, the Lord "took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again." Yet there were two, Eldad and Medad, had not gone out to the tent but remained in the camp. And even they we're told prophesied. Joshua, Moses' assistant, found it most unsettling. Up to then there had been only one font, Moses himself, from which God's words flowed. Now, it seemed, at least to Joshua, it was pandemonium. A whole bunch of people were prophesying, and even in the camp, in the middle of all the faithful sojourners. And Joshua said, "My lord Moses, stop them!" Joshua was upset for control of God's spirit, the tidiness and uniformity, was being lost. Moses, however, found it to be a very good thing. "But Moses said to him, "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit on them!"
Joshua just didn’t get it. He didn’t see that the divine touch on all could be unifying and a source of blessing. Yet perhaps it takes a voice or two like that of Peter to bring proper understanding to the divine touch upon the people.
In our world and in our days, there are lots of voices to confuse and distract us. There are lots of activities that seem other than holy ones alive with the presence of God. Yet even on this Pentecost weekend, we can sift through it all and find the touch of the divine that comes upon us.
There is unity among diversity to be celebrated still. There is the mighty gift of forgiveness that the Spirit empowers to be celebrated still. There is bounty and beauty that is only made possible with the touch of God that is to be celebrated still. There is the truth of liberty, of love and respect to be celebrated still. May our God grant us the eye to see and the ears to hear the clear message of God’s touch, of God’s presence, in the midst of all we do, and may we, too, become prophets of the Holy One who unite the people with the understanding that God is in our midst, to gather us together as one as a holy and forgiven people of God alive because of the divine touch upon us all.
*HYMN: On Pentecost They Gathered No. 272
https://youtu.be/raXbQrbtLuo
*BENEDICTION
CHORAL BENEDICTION:
May the light of God shine on us today.
May the light of God shine on us today.
May it show us where to travel,
Lead us back if we should stray.
May the light of God shine on us today.
POSTLUDE: Introduction Boellmann
