Pentecost Sunday
Happy Birthday Church! Today we are celebrating Pentecost Sunday which is the day the Church (big C) celebrates the Holy Spirit breathing life and ministry into the very first disciples centuries ago. This event is recounted in the Book of Acts and is foretold in the Gospels. Today we will read these stories and wonder together how the Holy Spirit can make an imprint on our lives in the here and now. Thank you for being with us today and please reach out if you have any questions! Welcome to worship!
Prelude “There Shall be Showers of Blessings” Sarah Park
[By J. McGranahan]
Welcome Rev. Chad Delaney
Welcome to the Mantua Center Christian Church
Good Morning!
Welcome to the Mantua Center Christian Church
We are a community seeking to have open minds, open hearts, and open arms.
Today we are celebrating ….
Thank you for joining us here in the house and online. Welcome to everyone!
- ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Pentecost Sunday Offering This Week
- Camp Christian Sunday next week
- O&A Gathering after worship for Questions - We can certainly accommodate one-on-ones!
- Joining the Church and Baptism.
Rev. Wesley King shared this…
We are about to enter sacred time. We are about to make this time and this place sacred by our presence and intention. Breathe
Please turn off or silence your phones… and as you do so, I invite us also to turn down the volume on our fears; to remove our masks; and to loosen the armor around our hearts. Breathe.
Let go of the expectations placed on you by others—and those they taught you to place on yourself. Breathe
Drop the guilt and the shame, not to shirk accountability, but in honest expectation of the possibility of forgiveness. Breathe
Let go of the thing you said the other day. Let go of the thing you dread next week. Be here, in this moment. Breathe. The Spirit of the Living God is here. Breathe. Amen.
Scripture Reading Acts 2:1-12 Rev. Chad Delaney
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All 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 nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ 12All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’
*Welcoming Song “Here We Gather” #294
Here we gather as God’s people with our friends from far and near;
Let our voices sound with praises knowing Christ has called us here.
Now we seek and greet each other, now in joy approach our friends.
Here we mingle, bound together as to all our love extends.
*Call to Worship Travis Brant ONE: Come and worship!
ALL: We will praise the One between, within, and over.
ONE: Trust in the One who co-creates the was, the now, and the will-be.
ALL: Our hope is in the One who creates expansive love
calling us to do the same.
ONE: Follow the One who never breaks covenant.
ALL: We follow the One whose extravagant love calls us
to feed the hungry and welcome the stranger
ONE: Praise the One whose justice is grace-full and inclusive.
ALL: We praise the Spirit that spans the ages. Amen!
Written by Tim Graves
*Opening Hymn Sweet, Sweet Spirit #261
There's a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place,
And I know that it's the Spirit of the Lord;
There are sweet expressions on each face,
And I know they feel the presence of the Lord.
Refrain:
Sweet Holy Spirit, Sweet heavenly Dove,
Stay right here with us, filling us with Your love.
And for these blessings we lift our hearts in praise;
Without a doubt we'll know that we have been revived,
When we shall leave this place.
Invitation to Generosity
Invitation Travis Brant
Offertory
Music: “On the Day of Pentecost” Jan Green
[by David Paxton]
*Response Accept, O God, The Gifts We Bring #379, 2 lines
Accept, O God, the gifts we bring of spirit and of clay,
transform them into blessings on those we serve today.
Offering Prayer Travis Brant
Children’s Moment Rev. Chad Delaney
- Happy Birthday
- Filled with the Holy Spirit - we become alive and can go where the Spirit Leads
Special Music “Great is Thy Faithfulness” MCCC Ringers
[by Cynthia Dobrinski]
Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer Rev. Chad Delaney
Holy God, across the ages, the breath of your Spirit has created life and movement amongst your people. You have anointed your people with your spirit to be a light to the nations, to serve and to bless your world. Today we celebrate the continuing activity of your Spirit - how the breath of your Spirit swept into the early church and transformed them into powerful and joyful witnesses of Jesus. As the Holy Spirit blessed and renewed their lives filling them with power and hope, bless and renew our lives, we pray, O God. Fill us anew with the Holy Spirit so that we live from the gift, as energized and joyous witnesses of Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives. Melt us, mold us, fill us with you Spirit.
May your Spirit rest upon churches and communities of faith here in Mantua and beyond.
May your Spirit be with those who know only violence and fear.
May your Spirit be with children.
May your Spirit move us to care for the earth, to reach out in thanksgiving and stewardship.
May your Spirit be with those in Paducah, Windham, Tuscaloosa, and anywhere natural disaster is striking.
May your Spirit be with those who have been outcasted from churches because of their past or sexuality or political views. Offer comfort and presence…
May your Spirit be with the fallen Euclid police officer -- Jacob Derbin -- and his family. Be with all our women and men in uniform and offer them your peace and presence.
May your Spirit rest upon all those in our churches with illness and disease and recovery...lend your loving, healing strength to these and their families.
Spirit, Fall a fresh on us and we silently lift up all those on our hearts this day...
Spirit of the Living God….Fall afresh on us! Living God, you have created all that is. Send forth your Spirit to renew and restore us and hear us now pray the prayer you've taught us....saying....
Communion
Meditation Carol Buzbee
Communion Hymn Come, Holy Spirit… #248, vs. 1-3
1 Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove, with all your quickening powers;
kindle a flame of sacred love in these cold hearts of ours.
2 Hosannas languish on our tongues, and our devotion dies.
Waken our souls to joyful songs; let pure devotion rise.
3 Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove, with all your enlivening ways;
come, shed abroad the Savior’s love, and teach our hearts to praise.
Prayer Kathleen Lewarchick
Words of Institution Kathleen Lewarchick
Music: “Meditation” MCCC Ringers
[by David Paxton]
Scripture John 15:26-27; 16:4-15
26 ‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. 27You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.
‘I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” 6But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. 7Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9about sin, because they do not believe in me; 10about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; 11about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
12 ‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
Sermon Come Into My Heart Rev. Chad Delaney
Into my heart, into my heart,
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus;
Come in today, come in to stay,
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.
How does Jesus come into our hearts? And what for?
Some of you may have read Mitch Albom’s wonderful little book called “Tuesdays with Morrie.” The book captures the reflections and conversations the author had with his college professor Morrie who was diagnosed with ALS. In the final months of his life, they talked at length about the stories of their lives, the values they hold most dear, and the wisdom of lessons learned.
"The greatest gift you can give someone is your time because when you give your time, you are giving a portion of your life that you will never get back."
"Love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone."
"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in."
If you knew you only had a few months to live, what would you want to pass along to those you love? What would you want to make sure they knew? What assurances would you want to give them?
It is in that kind of space that we meet with Jesus in a stretch of scripture where he is laying out his legacy, his hopes, his teachings to his closest disciples. Jesus knows his time is closing and he still has so much to share.
- He shares with them a New Commandment to “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
- He tells them “I am the Vine and you are the branches”
- He warns them they will face persecution and not everyone will welcome their message
- He prays for their unity, that they all might come together as one body.
Jesus also shares with them he is sending the Advocate--the Holy Spirit--to continue teaching them everything they need to know.
12 ‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth;
The story of Pentecost, the day we are celebrating today, 50 days after Easter, is the fulfillment of Jesus’ words here. Though Jesus will no longer be with them, the Holy Spirit--God’s Breath--will be sent to fill them, animate them, lead them and to guide them. Why? Because there is STILL so much to do and learn!
This isn’t a “Follow-me” by reading a manual situation. The world and culture and people will always be changing…will God’s people follow the leadings of the Spirit?
Although AI (artificial intelligence) has been around for awhile, it has more recently taken the general public by storm. ChatGPT is a free resource that can help people with job interviews, check for grammar, write research papers, give business name ideas, solve mathematical equations, and write computer code. It is both amazing and kind of scary.
I asked ChatGPT to share some Pentecost jokes for us:
- Why did the apostles start speaking in so many languages at Pentecost?
They wanted to be more "conversational!"
- Why didn’t the apostles need translators at Pentecost?
Because the Holy Spirit took care of all the language barriers!
So yeah…There’s some things that just can’t be replicated in computer code. ChatGPT gets a lot wrong and should be used with some caution. However, what makes AI work is that it keeps learning and advancing. It supposedly gets better and better as it gathers new data and adapts to new information. It is not static, but dynamic. Which…of course…it learned from us. Humans at their best continue growing, changing, learning.
We are called Disciples for a reason! The word Disciples in Greek is mathétés and means “a learner, disciple, pupil.” Jesus calls upon the Disciples to listen to the leanings, whisperings, guidance of the Holy Spirit to continue to live in his way. To change and adapt and grow in ways that reflect God’s radical love amidst all the changing circumstances of life.
The Holy Spirit was sent on Pentecost day because the Spirit of the Living God, The Spirit of the Risen Christ is to LIVE inside of our hearts. So Jesus can continue to melt us, mold us, teach us what it means to live and love in his likeness in this time and place. 12 ‘I still have many things to say to you…13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth;”
- As followers of Jesus, let’s listen for those nudges to extend a helping hand
- Let’s pay attention to those feelings that something is wrong and we need to go a different way
- Let’s look for and follow Love, Joy, Peace, Patience… -- the Fruits of the Spirit
- Let’s keep our eyes open for those times God is teaching us something new -- for Christ is still speaking…
Through the breath and power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus comes into our heart. And what for? To come in today and in to stay to help us live out the message of the Risen Christ.
So then…on this Pentecost Sunday let the Holy Spirit fill you, expand you, and lead you in the way of Jesus Christ. God is still speaking…..are we still listening? Do we recognize what the Spirit is teaching us right here and now? Will we remain static…or follow the living, breathing, dynamic Spirit of the Living God? Will we invite him…
Into my heart, into my heart,
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus;
Come in today, come in to stay,
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.
*Closing Hymn Breathe on Me, Breath of God #254, vs. 1-4
1 Breathe on me, Breath of God, fill me with life anew,
that I may love what thou dost love, and do what thou wouldst do.
2 Breathe on me, Breath of God, until my heart is pure,
until with thee I will one will to do and to endure.
3 Breathe on me, Breath of God, till I am wholly thine,
until this earthly part of me glows with thy fire divine.
4 Breathe on me, Breath of God, so shall I never die,
but live with thee the perfect life of thine eternity.
Benediction Rev. Chad Delaney
- In Christ we are made whole. In Christ we are sent forth in love."
- Thank you for joining us for this time of worship.
- BELLS and JAN GREEN
- You could have been many different places today
- Please have some coffee and join for conversation in our wonderful classes led by Nancy Humes, Jon Secaur, and Carol Buzbee
Mother Theresa
“Christ prays in me, Christ works in me, Christ thinks in me, Christ looks through my eyes, Christ speaks through my words, Christ works with my hands, Christ walks with my feet, Christ loves with my heart. As St Paul’s prayer was: “I belong to Christ and nothing will separate me from the love of Christ.” It was that oneness, oneness with God in the Holy Spirit.”
Postlude “O Spread the Tiding ’Round ” Sarah Park
[by W. J. Kirkpatrick]