Juneteenth; Our Freedom Song

 Juneteenth; Our Freedom Song

Juneteenth is a Freedom Song for every American. If ever there were a way to mark our obedience to God, it would be in abolishing slavery. It is as much a celebration for white folks as it is for black folks. On August 1,1858 Abe Lincoln said; “As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is not democracy.” It took until this day, June 19,1865 for General Gordon Granger of the Union Army to announce General Order Number 3 proclaiming freedom for enslaved people in Texas.  Thus Emancipation became complete in America! 

Today is a cause of celebration for all Americans. Much more work to be done to assure the continuation of freedom and democracy for all. So much of our democracy remains under growing threat if we do not remain vigilant.

Our struggles for Justice are always accompanied with music. Whether it is in the Reformation, slavery in this country, or the Great Hunger in Ireland, music has accompanied every struggle for freedom. Anglican chant, the great hymns of the church, , Negro Spirituals, jazz and the blues, or Irish folk; all our music is sacred music. 

The formation of faith itself begins with a song. The Psalter is the Hymn Book of Jesus. 

Today, the Psalmist sings; 

“As the deer longs for the water-brooks, *
        so longs my soul for you, O God.
My soul is athirst for God, athirst for the living God”

My ministry began with a song. When I was first ordained, before marriage and family, I knew I needed three things to engage all the struggles of ministry; a roof over my head, a serviceable means of transportation, and a good hi-fi system. A few months ago we traded out our old TV for a new Roku TV and matching Roku speakers. We love old TV reruns and when that has run its course, we listen to good music on any station we choose on iHeart Radio. This allows us to settle down a bit and rest our souls after a long day of appointments and errands. Thus we can maintain something akin to sanity.

Without sanity there is madness. Jesus’ encounter with the demoniac in today’s Gospel is illustrative of the inclination in the human spirit toward legions of madness. From war in the Ukraine to shootings in Uvalde and now St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Vestavia Hills, Alabama there is an inclination toward violence within the human breast. Hatred has infected the human heart and we are loath to allow Jesus to cure our wanton madness. There is too much divisiveness, too much anger, too much hate and way too many guns. White supremacists would take away our freedom in a heartbeat unless we hold them in check. 

I for one want to live in a country where we love one another more than we love our guns. 

Like my Celtic ancestors before me, I go through life unarmed. The only weapon I have is the Gospel. That Gospel is stirringly articulated by Paul in today’s letter to the Galatians. My soul rejoices with the inclusive love of Christ for all in obedience to the God. Paul’s reading of that Gospel is compelling to our spirits. He writes; “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” 

Jew or Greek; that means any race, ethnicity or language.

Slave or free; that means all folks no matter how rich or poor.

Male or female; that means you are all one in Christ without regard to gender, orientation or sexual identity. 

All my life I have worked along side you seeking to become a more inclusive church. Bishop Shaw once imagined God embracing humankind in ever widening circles of inclusive love. 

This makes the rise in hate crimes all the more disquieting. There will always be an Ahab and a Jezebel seething with murderous threats against the prophets of God. Just like there are gun toting madmen ready to slaughter innocent children or the elderly at a church pot luck supper. Who wouldn’t recoil in terror?

Elijah fled in fear. After all, Jezebel said; “You’re next!” 

But God pursued the prophet. “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

God said “Go stand on the mountain and I will pass by.”

And God did pass by but God was not in the earthquake the fire or the flood. God was in the sheer silence or the “still small voice” as other translations put it. 

What are we to make of our encounter with God? How can we ever fully understand it. The best we can do is embrace the will of God and do what God would have us do and sing our freedom songs. Without that song we’re lost.

Basil the Great once wrote; “When the Holy Spirit saw that humankind was ill-inclined toward virtue and that we were heedless of the righteous life because of our inclination to madness, what did she do? She blended the delight of melody with Scripture in order that, through the pleasantness and softness of sound, we might come to righteousness unaware that wise physicians might heal the soul as we drink from Christ’s cup rimmed with honey. For this purpose, these harmonious melodies have been designed for us, that we, may in reality be educating their souls. ~freely adapted from Basil the Great.

Today we come to a day of great significance in the lives of Janet and David King, the choir and congregation of Trinity Church. It is time to commend them for their service to this church and providing us with “harmonious melodies” for all these years. As you prepare to retire we wast to say to you; “Thank you”. 

Thank you Janet. Thank you David. “Music is praying twice.”

No mediation on music would be complete it without remembering what Johann Sebastian Bach wrote of all his prodigious efforts;

“Music is an agreeable harmony for the honor of God and the permissible delights of the soul.” “I play the notes as they are written, but it is God who makes the music.” “The final aim and reason of all music is nothing other than the glorification of God and the refreshment of the human spirit.” ~J.S. Bach

We are deeply grateful to you for honoring God the way you have done with your music. May it always be part of our Freedom Song. Glory be to God.

In the Name of God the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen

Fr Paul

Below are the reading for the Second Sunday after Pentecost with thoughts and words highlighted that speak to my soul.

Second Sunday after Pentecost

The Collect:

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-­kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Lesson: 1 Kings 19:1-4, 8-15a

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”  He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus.”

Psalm 42 and 43

1 As the deer longs for the water-brooks, *
        so longs my soul for you, O God.
2 My soul is athirst for God, athirst for the living God; *
        when shall I come to appear before the presence of God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night, *
        while all day long they say to me,
        “Where now is your God?”
4 I pour out my soul when I think on these things: *
        how I went with the multitude and led them into the
                              house of God,
5 With the voice of praise and thanksgiving, *
        among those who keep holy-day.
6 Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? *
        and why are you so disquieted within me?
7 Put your trust in God; *
        for I will yet give thanks to him,
        who is the help of my countenance, and my God.
8 My soul is heavy within me; *
        therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan,
        and from the peak of Mizar among the heights of Hermon.
9 One deep calls to another in the noise of your cataracts; *
        all your rapids and floods have gone over me.
10 The Lord grants his loving-kindness in the daytime; *
        in the night season his song is with me,
        a prayer to the God of my life.
11 I will say to the God of my strength,
   “Why have you forgotten me? *
        and why do I go so heavily while the enemy
                              oppresses me?”
12 While my bones are being broken, *
        my enemies mock me to my face;
13 All day long they mock me *
        and say to me, “Where now is your God?”
14 Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? *
        and why are you so disquieted within me?
15 Put your trust in God; *
        for I will yet give thanks to him,
        who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

1 Give judgment for me, O God,
   and defend my cause against an ungodly people; *
        deliver me from the deceitful and the wicked.
2 For you are the God of my strength;
  why have you put me from you? *
        and why do I go so heavily while the enemy
                               oppresses me?
3 Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, *
        and bring me to your holy hill
        and to your dwelling;
4 That I may go to the altar of God,
   to the God of my joy and gladness; *
        and on the harp I will give thanks to you, O God my God.
5 Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? *
        and why are you so disquieted within me?
6 Put your trust in God; *
        for I will yet give thanks to him,
        who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

Epistle: Galatians 3:23-29

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Gospel: Luke 8:26-39

Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

The Pure Simplicity of God

The Pure Simplicity of God

It it’s all so simple; this whole business about God. Here is how I found out. 

I ran home as fast as I could to confirm what Something had spoken in my heart of hearts. I ran into the kitchen where my grandmother was presiding over her stove as a priest might preside over an altar. 

I asked; “Ma, is there a God?”

I needed to know. Everything depended on the answer. 

“Of course there is!” That was simple.

“Ma, is there a heaven?” She glanced sidewards at me with just a hint of irritation. After all, she was cooking and this was not a good time for theology.

“Yes, of course there is!” Still, pretty straight forward.

“Ma, is my daddy there?” Ah, now we come to a complication. There had been a messy divorce. He was at fault apparently. When he died, there were hasty words about his “deserving” what he got. Someone even said he couldn’t go to heaven because he didn’t go to church. All these things got said so I could hear them. I was eight years old at the time. 

Mind you my mom was a feisty lady and I wondered more than once if she had a part to play in the divorce when I heard them arguing with each other. And even my grandmother said more than once that the Irish ruined Boston. It all left me bewildered. My question hung there for what seemed an eternity. 

“Is my daddy there?”

That’s when she knelt down right there in the kitchen. She held me close and folded my head into the nape of her neck and she said;

“Of course he is!” 

And that’s why I’m a priest today. 

It is pure simplicity.

Yes there is a God.

Yes there is a Heaven.

And Yes my daddy’s there as are all our loved ones. All have been gathered up one by one into God’s nearer Presence.

It is all so simple.

First, God is “Our Father who art in Heaven”. God is the Creator of Heaven and Earth and everyone in it. When we said our prayers at night we blessed everybody by name in the family, all my friends, those at school and finally everybody in the “whole wide word”. God made every single one of us. See. Simple!

Secondly, God is Jesus Christ our Savior. It took a while to figure out how he saved us. The world didn’t look particularly saved to me. At the time we had air raid drills in an old school built before the Civil War. I’m not at all sure the building could have survived a nuclear attack. Nowadays kids do mass shooter drills, and there have been well over 230 school shootings just this year alone. I wondered; “How can you call this world ‘saved’”.

But then I figured it out. Jesus brought the world Forgiveness and Eternal Life. The one is related to the other. When we Forgive, we are in Eternal Life. And when we do come to our life’s end there is forgiveness. There is room in God’s heart for each and every one of us, even if we miss church once in a while or even if the only time you mention our Lord’s Name is when you loose a bet at the race track as my daddy often did way back in those days. 

How do I know? The Bible tells me so; “Yes, Jesus loves me.” And my daddy too. And each and every one of you too.

And third God is the Holy Spirit. She is everywhere present. She permeates all of existence. “Does not wisdom call,” the Scripture says; “and does not understanding raise her voice?”
We know her first by prayer. 

We also know her through the the Holy Wisdom from on High. My grandmother knew her well. As did all my elders. How I looked up to them. Not to mention my priest and teachers. How I loved them all. Such Wisdom!

The Spirit imparts gifts for ministry. As a child I wanted to be Ted Williams or a parish priest. This also was pure simplicity. I loved baseball and I loved God. Who wouldn’t, growing up a short subway ride to Fenway Park. We spent our summers in the bleachers chasing home run balls hit by Teddy Ballgame and all the others. Or going to St. James’s Church, North Cambridge. That priest, that choir, that pipe organ, those stained glass windows; that breathtaking building.

As it turned out my batting average was not so hot, so that left the priesthood. I learned so much in school, in college, at seminary and of course in life itself. Life, Wisdom’s own teacher. 

God is the gift giver of every good gift from above. As Jesus says; “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth”.

All of which tells me that there is nothing complicated or difficult about faith. 

We are born into it. 

Today we at Trinity Church come to our Name Day. 

We know Who the Holy Trinity is:

God is Creator.

God is Savior.

God is Holy Spirit.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

Pure simplicity.

As is our duty to God and our neighbor. 

Love God.

Love your neighbor.

It just can’t get much simpler than that. 

So straighten up your act. I’ve already spoken to Jesus about each and every one of you throughout these very nearly fifty years.

I will not go to heaven until each and every one of you gets in there first. There, I said it. Black and White. Did you hear that Jesus? So don’t go holding things up. Get things right between you and God and each other. Love God. Love one another.

Yes there is a God.

Yes there is a Heaven 

And yes, not only is my daddy there, each and every one of us is Heaven bound.

In the Name of God. The simple Name of God; 

The Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen.

Fr Paul

Below, the readings for Trinity Sunday with highlights indicating thoughts and phrases that stand out to me and resonate in my soul. 

Trinity Sunday

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Lesson: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Does not wisdom call,
and does not understanding raise her voice?
On the heights, beside the way,
at the crossroads she takes her stand;
beside the gates in front of the town,
at the entrance of the portals she cries out:
“To you, O people, I call,
and my cry is to all that live.

The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of long ago.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth—
when he had not yet made earth and fields,
or the world’s first bits of soil.
When he established the heavens, I was there,
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth, 

then I was beside him, like a master worker;
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.

Psalm: Psalm 8

1 O Lord our Governor, *
        how exalted is your Name in all the world!
2 Out of the mouths of infants and children *
        your majesty is praised above the heavens.
3 You have set up a stronghold against your adversaries, *
        to quell the enemy and the avenger.
4 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, *
        the moon and the stars you have set in their courses,
5 What is man that you should be mindful of him? *
        the son of man that you should seek him out?
6 You have made him but little lower than the angels; *
        you adorn him with glory and honor;
7 You give him mastery over the works of your hands; *
        you put all things under his feet:
8 All sheep and oxen, *
        even the wild beasts of the field,
9 The birds of the air, the fish of the sea, *
        and whatsoever walks in the paths of the sea.
10 O Lord our Governor, *
        how exalted is your Name in all the world!

Epistle: Romans 5:1-5

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Gospel: John 16:12-15

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When 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. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Of Nightmares and Visons

 Of Nightmares and Visions

When I was a child I had terrible nightmares. I remember waking up in a cold sweat, falling and spinning through an endless vortex of nothingness begging for somebody to help me. I’d sit bolt upright calling out for anybody. Then I’d hear my brother roll over in bed and tell me to go back to sleep. 

“It was just a nightmare, Buddy!”

It took a while to settle down as I realized I was safely in my own bed at home, quite securely ensconced on a good solid mattress. But then there was a terrible darkness and silence to talk to. I felt terribly alone. It only got worse after my dad died when I was 8 years old at Christmas. 

I clearly remember pouring my heart out to the Silence which now seemed to have the ability to listen to me. I’d cry myself to sleep and the Silence seemed to understand and even comfort me sometimes.

Little did I know at the time that this Silence had a Name. It came to my heart of hearts on the way home from church one day when Something in my heart told me; “Don’t you know there’s room in my heart for your daddy!” 

That’s when I learned that the Silence did have a Name; God. 

A little later I grew to know that the Name is also Jesus.

Later still did I discover that the Holy Name is the yet again the Holy Spirit.

The Blessed Silence I spoke to then and listen to now is the Blessed and Holy Trinity in whose name this church is dedicated; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God, Jesus and Holy Ghost as we used to call her.

Yes, I know I said her. It took a while to learn that God had a feminine dimension. I had to learn a bit of Greek and Hebrew to know that Holy Spirit is literally Sancta Sophia. Sophia is a woman’s name as you and I both know. I always dedicate my sermons to this Sacred Silence which I call God; the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity; God the Creator, God the Savior, God the Holy Spirit. 

Silence is the first Gift of the Holy Spirit. We call her Prayer. She is as natural to us as a child calling out for Someone to listen in the darkness of a lonely, frightening night. She is always there and her name is God.

Wisdom is the Second Gift of the Holy Spirit: The Holy Wisdom from on High. I often wondered where my grandmother got all her Wisdom. I remember her swaying to and fro in her rocking chair crocheting something beautiful to decorate our home or to keep us warm on long, cold winter nights. There she’d spin her yarns night after night and I’d sit entranced as I listened. Where did she get all this? I remember coming home from College with my degree and she’d smile proud as punch. And then to keep me grounded she’d often remind me;

“You may know mo-ah, but I know bett-ah!”

It takes years and years of living and learning and listening to the Silence to gain this kind of Wisdom but as we do, we gain some insight into life. 

Wisdom has a particularly feminine dimension to it as I have already said. One time during an interview for a church, I was asked by a gentleman in his fifties what my expectations were of my wife. Cindy was sitting right next to me. I knew that the situation was highly charged in that moment but God gave me the Wisdom to say; 

“She’s sitting right here; why don’t you ask her?”

To which Cindy rather promptly said;

“He has none and neither will you!”

Needless to say our mutual discernment was that this church would not extend a call to us, nor would we accept it in the unlikely event that one was issued. 

On another occasion and in yet another interview I was asked how I deal with “difficult personalities.”

I hemmed and hawed a bit as to how I exercised a diplomatic approach in conflict situations and gave the example of an especially troublesome volunteer individual. 

Cindy finally piped up from the background and said; 

“Let’s face it Bresnahan, that woman was a pain in the blankety-blank!”
In that case, the Search Committee thought that having such a wise woman as this behind the rector was exactly what the congregation needed and they extended a call and we accepted it.

Wisdom comes in all forms and shapes and sizes and like the wind it blows where it wills we know not where or how or when it comes or where it goes. But it is God’s own Wisdom nonetheless. ~para John 3:8

She finds herself deeply embedded in our hearts and is a gift for all who listen closely to her. 

The Holy Spirit’s third gift to us is the many gifts she gives for ministry. She is as beautiful as a rainbow of color shining through a crystal. Or as brilliant and fascinating as shapes, patterns and colors in a kaleidoscope. The gifts of ministry are as limitless as the human imagination. 

Theses gifts come to us as divided flames of fire over our heads giving us understanding in every language upon earth. The language of the Holy Spirit is not just like Spanish, German, French or English; the language of the Holy Spirit is able to comfort and give encouragement to our weary souls.

Our souls are often worn down by life’s many struggles be they warfare, gun violence or political division or gridlock. Our souls are worn down so often with grief and loss of all sorts. 

But here we are, for one another, equipped by God with gifts for ministry. We give each other understanding and encouragement. The traditional gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, faith, and the love of God. We also give God and each other whatever is necessary to do the work God has given us to do. This is what the prayer of oblation requires of us. 

The catechism defines oblation as “an offering of ourselves, our lives and labors, in union with Christ, for the purposes of God.” In other words, as I might put it,“You can count on me to do whatever needs to be done”.

This is the ultimate gift of the Holy Spirit.  It requires all that we have and everything we are. That’s not too much to ask is it?

It is most certainly necessary in any marriage, family, church, workplace or school to work well. Look at the multiplicity of gifts required to be the member of any gathering of people; few or many . What is required of us? Everything we have and everything we are. And whatever the Holy Spirit gives us to exercise our ministry, we never stop giving. 

I am grateful beyond words for my marriage, my family, and my church and you for instance. I love you. It is as simple as that. I sense some of that coming from you too. Thanks be to God. 

Thankfully, I don’t have so many nightmares anymore. Now I dream dreams and see visions like any old man might and exactly as the Scripture said I would in today’s first lesson. 

But the Silence is always there for me as I fall off to sleep these days. But now the Silence has a Name; the Name I learned so many years ago.

In the Name of God; The Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity; God the Creator, Jesus the Savior, and Sancta Sophia. Amen. 

Fr Paul

Below are the readings for Pentecost with highlights indicating passages, thoughts, phrases that speak to my soul. 

Day of Pentecost

Whitsunday

The Collect:

Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Lesson: Acts 2:1–21 

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 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. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘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. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Psalm: 104:25-35,37

25 O Lord, how manifold are your works! *
        in wisdom you have made them all;
        the earth is full of your creatures.
26 Yonder is the great and wide sea
    with its living things too many to number, *
        creatures both small and great.
27 There move the ships,
    and there is that Leviathan, *
        which you have made for the sport of it.
28 All of them look to you *
        to give them their food in due season.
29 You give it to them; they gather it; *
        you open your hand, and they are filled with good things.
30 You hide your face, and they are terrified; *
        you take away their breath,
        and they die and return to their dust.
31 You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; *
        and so you renew the face of the earth.
32 May the glory of the Lord endure for ever; *
        may the Lord rejoice in all his works.
33 He looks at the earth and it trembles; *
        he touches the mountains and they smoke.
34 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; *
        I will praise my God while I have my being.
35 May these words of mine please him; *
        I will rejoice in the Lord.
37 Bless the Lord, O my soul. *
        Hallelujah!

Second Lesson: Romans 8:14-17 

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Gospel: John 14:8-17, 25-27

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.

Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.