Pentecost Sunday
10:30 am Holy Communion Service
Grace Evangelical Lutheran, San
Francisco
Welcome
to worship at Grace! Welcome to long-time
Lutherans, Christians from every tradition, and people new to faith. Welcome to
all who have no church home, want to follow Christ, have doubts, or do not
believe. Welcome to new visitors and old friends. Welcome to people of every
age and size, color and culture, every sexual orientation and gender identity,
socio-economic status, marital status, ability and challenge. Welcome to
believers and questioners, and to questioning believers. This is a place where
you are welcome to celebrate and sorrow, rejoice and recover. This is a place where lives are made new.
Special
Welcome to Newcomers Welcome
to our small community of faith. While
we are small in numbers, we have big hearts and a desire to grow. In order to help you follow along, we have
included all the materials you need for worship in this bulletin.
Please join us for worship any Sunday at 10:30am
that you are able. If you cannot join us
in person, you can also join us online via live stream or by watching the
archives of our worship and Bible Study that Doesn’t Suck anytime during the
week at our website (www.gracesf.com), or on our mobile phone app, Bible Study that Doesn’t Suck, is
available on Google Play and ITunes.
If you have any questions about the service
or about Grace, you can fill out the form in pew to let our pastor know you’d
like to chat. Or you can contact Pastor
Megan Rohrer at pastor@gracesf.com.
Prelude
Greeting:
Water is poured into the baptismal font.
P The Grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
C And
also with you.
Gathering Hymn Verses
1, 3 and 4
Prayer of the Day
Loving
God, stir up your wisdom amongst us and help us to speak with one voice about
your love, grace and forgiveness. Amen.
Welcome
First Reading
Ezekiel 37:1-14
37The
hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by
the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a
valley; it was full of bones. 2He led me all around them; there were
very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 3He said to
me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God,
you know.” 4Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to
them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5Thus
says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to
enter you, and you shall live. 6I will lay sinews on you, and will
cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you,
and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
7So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied,
suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to
its bone. 8I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had
come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9Then
he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the
breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds,
O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” 10I
prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived,
and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. 11Then he said to me,
“Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are
dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ 12Therefore
prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am
going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and
I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13And you shall know
that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring
you up from your graves, O my people. 14I will put my spirit within
you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall
know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,” says
the Lord.
Word
of hope, word of life. Thanks
be to God
Romans 8 (read responsively)
22We know
that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now;
23and 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.
24For in hope
we were saved.
Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for
what is seen? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for
it with patience.
26Likewise the
Spirit helps us in our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
but that
very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.
27And God,
who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the
Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Second Reading Acts 2:1-21
2When 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.
5Now 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?” 13But others sneered and said, “They are
filled with new wine.”
14But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and
addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known
to you, and listen to what I say. 15Indeed, these are not drunk, as
you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16No, 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. 18Even upon my slaves, both men
and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. 19And
I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood,
and fire, and smoky mist. 20The sun shall be turned to darkness and
the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. 21Then
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
Word of hope, word of
life. Thanks
be to God
Special Music Thy Holy Wings
WOV#741 Grace
Choir
Gospel Reading John
16:13-15
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. The gospel
of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.
Sermon
Silence for reflection follows the sermon. The assembly stands to proclaim the word of
God in song.
Hymn of the Day Verses
1, 3 and 4
Prayers of Intercession
A During this season of Pentecost, we pray
for the Spirit to inspire the church, the world and all people. A brief
silence.
Creating God, help us to
rethink old grudges, live generously and help to others when they need it. God
in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Parent God, bless all who are
grandparents, the family and staff of the Grace Infant
Care Center
and all who foster families. Help us to give
and receive love. And, encourage us to
become less grumpy and to err on the side of compassion when we interact with
people we don’t understand. God in your
mercy, hear our prayer.
God, you are the highest
authority. Help our civic leaders to
bring peace to a war torn world and care for those who are vulnerable. Be with our bishops Elizabeth and Mark, our
pastor Megan and all the staff and leaders of our congregation. Help us to care for our climate, conserve
water and draw closer to God in all that we do at work and at home. God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Loving God, give us listening
ears and healthy bodies. Provide special
care and support to those who are irradiating cancer from their body and provide a special blessing for the spouses,
health care providers, lab techs and researches who support those whose minds,
bodies or spirits are in need of care.
We yearn for justice and await the day we will be reunited with those we
have lost. But, there is no rush, so
help us to live the best we can, with the time we have. God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
For whom and what else do the
people of Grace pray?
(Please offer - silently or aloud- petitions to God. End spoken petitions with “God in your mercy.”)
P Our prayers rise like
incense and are held by a loving God who yearns for us to be our best. May we sleep well, worry less and live
convinced that God’s is on our side. Amen.
Peace
The presiding minister and the assembly greet each
other in the peace of the risen Christ.
P The peace of Christ be with you always. C
And also with you.
The people may greet one another with the sign of
Christ’s peace, and may say, “Peace be with you” or similar words. Then, the assembly is seated.
Offering
An offering is gathered for the mission of the church,
including the care of those in need. After
the offering is gathered, the assembly stands.
Offering Prayer
A Let us pray. God,
bless the all that we have to offer. May our financial support match the
generosity of our lives. Help us to be good
stewards of our financial and emotional investments. Amen.
Communion
P
It is indeed right, our duty and our
joy, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise . . .
we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
