Bulletin – Sunday, June 5, 2022 – Pentecost / Pride Sunday / Communion
Sunday, June 5, 2022
Pentecost / Pride Sunday / Communion
Approach
Lighting the Christ Candle
We light this flame to ignite our hearts and minds—the spark of knowledge that enlightens, the shimmering hope that burns, the blazing love that engulfs our actions, the bonfire of our commitment. We light the flame for those who celebrate themselves, who fear, who hope, who persevere, who stand on the side of love for all. We light this flame for those who have been ridiculed, that they may find peace; for those who have fought to marry, that they may celebrate, for those who live in uncertainty in the world, that they may have hope. We light this flame to renew our commitment that no one shall ever again suffer for the right to love. We light this flame to celebrate our kaleidoscope of diversity: working, loving, and living on the side of love. We light this flame to always remind us that the Divine is with us, that the Spirit of the Divine has been given to us, that we are filled with Divine Love. For this, we light this flame.
(adapted from Linda Lee Franson)
Call to Worship
One: All you who delight in the Sacred Strange, come and worship the queer Creator.
All: Thanks be to God who blesses the peculiar and rejoices in the uniqueness of every body and being.
One: The Holy takes on flesh in every gender and sexual orientation, every race and ability, every body size and body type.
All: Each embodied difference is a unique glimpse of Holy Wonder.
One: Blessed are those who search for God among the lives of the oppressed, the betrayed, the turned away, and the condemned.
All: Blessed are those who receive with joy the gifts of God enfleshed among us.
One: The Sacred is with us. Let us worship and be transformed.
All: Let us worship knowing that the Spirit of Live, Love, Inclusion, and Acceptance is sent down on us today and every day.
Hymn – “Draw the Circle Wide”
Draw the circle wide. Draw it wider still.
Let this be our song, no one stands alone,
Standing side by side
Draw the circle wide.
God the still point of the circle,
‘Round whom all creation turns;
Nothing lost, but held forever,
In God’s gracious arms.
Draw the circle wide. Draw it wider still.
Let this be our song, no one stands alone,
Standing side by side
Draw the circle wide.
Let our hearts touch far horizons,
So encompass great and small;
Let our loving know no borders,
Faithful to God’s call.
Draw the circle wide. Draw it wider still.
Let this be our song, no one stands alone,
Standing side by side
Draw the circle wide.
Let the dreams we dream be larger
Than we’ve ever dreamed before;
Let the dream of Christ be in us,
Open every door.
Draw the circle wide. Draw it wider still.
Let this be our song, no one stands alone,
Standing side by side
Draw the circle wide.
Prayer of Lighting the Rainbow Candles
Our Creator, this prayer is in violet. The violet of suffragettes, gender activists, and non-binary living. Reveal the fears that keep us and others captive through inequality and self-censorship. Give us the courage to lay down new paths of freedom, expression, integrity, and enfranchisement.
Our Creator, this prayer is in blue. The blue of water, Mother Mary, and open skies. Your children need clean water to drink and safe skies beneath which to grow. Help us to resist the impulse to poison communities and the earth for short-sighted gain. We recognize that it is the most vulnerable in our communities who bear the brunt of our greed and warring ways.
Our Creator, this prayer is in green. The green of shoots and common time. The green of primordial algae and the hard work of growing food. When we despair, when we see only desolate landscapes ahead, rise up within and among us to call us forward to a new tenacity. Make us fierce with life and determination and teach us to grow strong and true with the force of Love.
Our Creator, this prayer is in yellow. The yellow of sunlight blessing all of creation and the coolness of moonlit nights. The yellow of happiness, intellect, and instinctual gifts. In celebrating Your abundance and care for all, give us the resolve to develop ourselves and our communities to our highest potential of generosity, mutuality, achievement and joy. Grow our awareness to include creation-care and the opportunity for all to thrive as part of our sacred purpose.
Our Creator, this prayer is in orange. The orange of surprise and in-breaking. The orange of volcanoes and fire. The orange of saffron robes and undeniable presence. Awaken us to new insights and put fresh ground beneath our feet. Help us to learn from our experiences and struggles to walk as harbingers of a better and kinder world.
Our Creator, this prayer is in red. The red of life’s blood and survival. The red of sensuality, sexuality, struggle, and passion. The red of wine and revolution. The red of birth and death. Give us the will to embody your vision of a just and loving world with every cell of our being. Give us the courage of our rainbow ancestors to live and live with pride.
In your many names, we pray. Amen.
Response – “Spirit of Life”
Spirit of Life, come unto me.
Sing in my heart all the stirrings of compassion.
Blow in the wind, rise in the sea;
Move in the hand, giving life the shape of justice.
Roots hold me close; wings set me free;
Spirit of Life, come to me, come to me.
Prayer of Approach
Loving God, we are glad that you have drawn us together again. We come as a motley people from a motley world, seeking your amazing and abundant love which is radically inclusive. We pray with thankfulness for those prayers you have already answered – and with hearts of hope for those things yet to be.
O Holy One, we express our gratitude as we rejoice as a community that our pride is found in you. Thank you for our celebration as an expression of our joy in love. May our pride always be a reflection of appreciation for who it is you have created us to be.
Bless our differences as a source of our strength and a sign of our respect for one another. Bless our calls for equality, inclusivity, and freedom that we may both hear and speak and act and work for your vision of justice and peace. Thank you for being ever faithful in hearing and answering our prayers. We pray now for our world, our leaders, our community, our church. We lift up to you our loved ones we name silently before you now…
We praise you, O God, for hearing us and calling us to come unto you, for meeting us wherever we are and taking us father than we dreamed. We thank you and we pray to you in the power of the Spirit, knowing that you listen to us always. Amen.
Hymn – “Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness”
Spirit, Spirit of gentleness,
Blow through the wilderness calling and free;
Spirit, Spirit of restlessness,
Stir me from placidness,
Wind, Wind on the sea.
You moved on the waters, you called to the deep,
Then you coaxed up the mountains from the valleys of sleep;
And over the eons you called to each thing:
Wake from your slumbers and rise on your wings.
Spirit, Spirit of gentleness,
Blow through the wilderness calling and free;
Spirit, Spirit of restlessness,
Stir me from placidness,
Wind, Wind on the sea.
You swept through the desert; you stung with the sand;
And you goaded your people with a law and a land;
And when they were blinded with their idols and lies,
Then you spoke through your prophets to open their eyes.
Spirit, Spirit of gentleness,
Blow through the wilderness calling and free;
Spirit, Spirit of restlessness,
Stir me from placidness,
Wind, Wind on the sea.
You sang in a stable; you cried from a hill;
Then you whispered in silence when the whole world was still;
And down in the city you called once again,
When you blew through your people on the rush of the wind.
Spirit, Spirit of gentleness,
Blow through the wilderness calling and free;
Spirit, Spirit of restlessness,
Stir me from placidness,
Wind, Wind on the sea.
You call from tomorrow, you break ancient schemes,
From the bondage of sorrow the captives dream dreams,
Our women see visions, our men clear their eyes,
With bold new decisions your people arise.
Spirit, Spirit of gentleness,
Blow through the wilderness calling and free;
Spirit, Spirit of restlessness,
Stir me from placidness,
Wind, Wind on the sea.
Time for All Ages
The Word
Scripture Reading: Acts 2:1-21
1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 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. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All 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. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
14 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. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, 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. 18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. 20 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. 21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Thanks be to God!
Meditation – “The Spirit of God”
Anthem – “Filled with the Power”
The Response
Communion
One: The Holy One be with you.
All: And also with you.
One: Open your hearts to the One who is Love.
All: We open our hearts to you, O God.
One: Let us give thanks to God, our Creator.
All: For the courage of the Holy that lives in us, we give thanks.
One: Bold and Beloved One, throughout history you have revealed yourself to us in ways that surprise and disrupt.
One: You shocked the world when you came to be with us as a vulnerable baby born into a family fleeing political persecution.
One: Though the sandal of your embodiment in Jesus led to crucifixion, still your Spirit of New Life is birthed anew among the marginalized.
One: You live among us today: In the lives of black trans women whose experiences of violence are dismissed and ignored. Among bisexual people living with HIV / AIDS. As babies born into the care of lesbian women. You wander school halls as trans children and navigate the streets as queer couples walking hand-in-hand. You come to us as LGBTQIA+ and Two-Spirit youth with no home. You are embodied by Two-Spirit people, still fighting against the impacts of colonization, erasure, and stolen land.
One: At times, we are offended by your self-expression. You take on flesh in people, places, and ideas we have been taught to fear or despise. And so we struggle. Our hearts harden. Our hospitality recoils.
One: But still, your love persists. Through beauty, compassion, and truth, you lure us into laying down our needs to control. You move us. Free us. Embrace us. Heal us.
One: We offer up to you this day those in this community whom we hope feel the healing of your presence with them…
One: By your grace, we are brought into the sacred labours of justice and transformation. We become free in Christ to reject all evil and oppression.
One: Like those we gathered with Jesus on the night of his arrest, we come in need of grace. After feasting with his companions, Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to all of them and said: “This is my body which is given for you. Take, eat, and remember me.”
One: After the supper, he did the same with the cup, saying: “This is a symbol of the new covenant. Drink in remembrance of me.”
One: In remembering the life of Jesus, we remember what he showed us:
All: The love of God is public. The love of God is intentional. The love of God is explicit.
One: And so we pray, pour out your Spirit on this bread and this cup, O God. Through these gifts open our hearts to encounters with Christ in the strange and the ordinary. May the bread of life and the cup of blessing strengthen us in our courage to live as Jesus lived. Amen.
Prayer after Communion
Nourishing One, your gifts renew us in body, spirit, and mind. Through this taste of love, may the Spirit send us with a faith that is brave. Let no institution or narrow thinking hold us back; make us people who boldly pursue collective justice and tend gently to the world’s pain. Amen.
Hymn – “May We Rise”
May we rise with all Creation as the Spirit gives us strength.
May we heed the inner wisdom that God’s loving knows no length.
May we be a faith-filled people, living out compassion’s way.
May we find the heart-felt courage to embrace the dawning day.
May we rise. Let the songs of Love be sung.
May we rise. Sisters, brothers we are one, we are one.
May we walk to meet the shadows of our woundedness and grief.
May we trust the Holy Spirit to bring healing and relief.
May we live with Love and justice, bring Your messages of Peace.
May we know the guiding power of Your gift of Grace released.
May we rise. Let the songs of Love be sung.
May we rise. Sisters, brothers we are one, we are one.
May we reach beyond the bound’ries of the walls that do divide.
May we feel the gift of Presence in Life’s circle with no sides.
May we listen for Your calling, hearts be open to Your way.
May we live as one in Christ. As one people, God we pray.
May we rise. Let the songs of Love be sung.
May we rise. Sisters, brothers we are one, we are one.
Benediction
This morning we have lit candles: Red for life in all its forms, Orange for healing, Yellow for sunlight and all kinds of light, Green for nature in all her diversity, Blue for harmony, and Purple for the Spirit which guides us all.
We are called to practice this rainbow colours in our lives—in the conversations and interactions in our lives at home, at work, and at play—as we go out into our community and the world to share the message that God’s love is for everyone! Amen.
Response – “We are a Rainbow”
We’re the light of all the world, we are a city on a hill,
We’re a candle on a stand proclaiming light,
We will not hide our lamp beneath a bushel anymore,
We will shine a ray of hope that’s burning bright.
We are a rainbow, sign of covenant and peace
For the flood of tears will finally cease to be,
Come shine your rainbow, splash your hues across the sky,
Paint the world in colours proud and bold and free.
We’re a coat of many colours, sewn from many different threads,
Covering all in warmth, in welcome and in grace,
God said, “Let there be light,” created every varied shade,
In the rainbow each of us can find a place.
We are a rainbow, sign of covenant and peace
For the flood of tears will finally cease to be,
Come shine your rainbow, splash your hues across the sky,
Paint the world in colours proud and bold and free.
We are hope to still believe in tomorrow’s better day,
We are peace in a world that’s torn apart,
We are joy that will last in all the struggles that we face
We are love that blooms and grows in every heart.
We are a rainbow, sign of covenant and peace
For the flood of tears will finally cease to be,
Come shine your rainbow, splash your hues across the sky,
Paint the world in colours proud and bold and free.
When we face the storms of life, we will never be alone,
For our God will be with us on the way,
Hand in hand, side by side, we won’t be frightened anymore,
As the mourning night of tears breaks into day.
We are a rainbow, sign of covenant and peace
For the flood of tears will finally cease to be,
Come shine your rainbow, splash your hues across the sky,
Paint the world in colours proud and bold and free.
