TheThe DaySeventh of Pentecost Sunday of Easter SSUNDAYUNDAY, ,2 163 M MAYAY 20 202121 10:3011:00 AM AM SAINT PAUL LUTHERAN AND CATHOLIC COMMUNITY OF FAITH DENVER, COLORADO STPAULDENVER.ORG Welcome to Saint Paul Church, an open, affirming, and diverse community of faith representing two Christian traditions, that of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and that of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion. Each tradition maintains and honors its own heritage, and each worships according to its own liturgical practices. As one community of faith, the members of the respective traditions work together in social outreach and shared hospitality. Together we rejoice in the manner in which diversity has enriched, nurtured, and challenged the life and ministry we share in Christ, and we regret actions and attitudes throughout the Church that may have inhibited or prevented access to Word and Sacrament because of age, race, socio-economic or marital status, physical or mental capacities, gender identity, or sexual orientation. We are a Reconciling in Christ community. C=Congregation P=Presiding Minister A=Assisting Minister The Entrance Rite _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ PRELUDE A Solemn Trumpet Tune in D Major Robert C. Lau EASTER ACCLAMATION P: Alleluia! Christ is risen! C: Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia! INVOCATION P: In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. C: Amen OPENING HYMN O Day Full of Grace DEN SIGNEDE DAG In this Danish hymn, Pentecost is a “day full of grace,” as is Christmas. In the latter, the birthday of Jesus, God came to us as the “Word-made-flesh,” and in the former, the birthday of the Church, God came to us as the “Spirit of truth.” Thus, in the experience of Pentecost, as the Apostle Peter affirms in the Second Reading, salvation history is fulfilled. All (Unison): All (Parts): All (Unison): All (Parts): All (Unison): Text: Nikolai F. S. Grundtvig, 1783-1872; tr. Gerald Thorson, b. 1921. Music: Christoph E. F. Weyse, 1774-1842. Translation Copyright © 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship; admin. Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis, Minnesota. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission under OneLicense.net License #A-705779. GREETING P: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. C: And also with you. 2 HYMN OF PRAISE Glory to God in the Highest Libby Larsen (from Celebration Mass) Cantor: REFRAIN C: REFRAIN Cantor: Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father: we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory. C: REFRAIN Cantor: Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God: you take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us. You are seated at the right hand of the Father; receive our prayer. C: REFRAIN Cantor: For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God, the Father. C: FINAL REFRAIN: SALUTATION P: The Lord be with you. C: And also with you. PRAYER OF THE DAY P: Let us pray. Mighty God, you breathe life into our bones, and your Spirit brings truth to the world. Send us this Spirit, transform us by your truth, and give us language to proclaim your gospel, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. C: Amen. The Liturgy of the Word ________________________________________________________________________________________________ FIRST READING Ezekiel 37.1-14 The Hebrew word rendered as ruach means “spirit,” “wind,” or “breath.” This reading plays on the different meanings of the word. Just as the dry bones in Ezekiel’s vision are given new life, flesh, and breath (or spirit), so God will give the exiles God’s own spirit and will bring them home to the land of Israel. Before the reading: A: A reading from Ezekiel. The 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. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, ―Mortal, can these bones live?‖ I answered, ―O LORD GOD, you know.‖ Then he said to me, ―Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the LORD GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I 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.‖ (The Reading continues on the following page.) 3 So 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. I 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. Then 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.‖ I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. Then 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.‘ Therefore 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. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I 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.‖ After the reading: D: The word of the Lord. C: Thanks be to God. PSALMODY Psalm 104.24-34, 35b Robert Buckley Farlee Cantor: ANTIPHON C: ANTIPHON Cantor: How manifold are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Yonder is the sea, great and wide, with its swarms too many to number, living things both small and great. There go the ships to and fro, and Leviathan, which you made for the sport of it. All of them look to you to give them their food in due season. C: ANTIPHON Cantor: You give it to them; they gather it; you open your hand, and they are filled with good things. When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; and so you renew the face of the earth. May the glory of the LORD endure forever; O LORD, rejoice in all your works C: ANTIPHON You look at the earth and it trembles; you touch the mountains and they smoke. I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will praise my God while I have my being. May these words of mine please God. I will rejoice in the LORD. Bless the LORD, O my soul. Hallelujah! Psalm text reprinted from Book of Common Prayer (1979). Antiphon Copyright © 1996 Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis, Minnesota. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission from Psalter for Worship, Cycle B under OneLicense,net License #A-705779. SECOND READING Acts 2.1-21 Originally Pentecost was a Jewish thanksgiving-type festival celebrated seven weeks after Passover. On this particular Pentecost, however, the Holy Spirit is poured out upon the entire community of believers just as Jesus had promised and the scriptures had prophesied. Empowered by the Spirit, the entire community bears witness to God’s activity in multiple languages. Before the reading: A: A reading from the Acts of the Apostles. When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 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. Divided 4 tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ―Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God‘s deeds of power.‖ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ―What does this mean?‖ But others sneered and said, ―They are filled with new wine.‖ But 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.