Eldad – Hampton Pastoral Charge
of the United Church of Canada.
with Pastor Doug Ferris
Music Director: Jennifer Pearce-Chambers
May 28, 2023
PRE-SERVICE: WE PREPARE FOR WORSHIP
Pre-Service Reflection and Prayer: Breathe, Read, Reflect, Pray.
Moses…gathered seventy elders of the people and placed them all around the tent. Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied…Two men remained in the camp, one name Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them..and so they prophesied in the camp. And..Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, “My lord Moses, stop them!” But Moses said, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit on them!”
(Numbers 11:16-30, Selections)
GATHERING AND WELCOME
The Apostle Paul, wrote to the Church at Rome declaring that: “the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us…[and] if Christ is in you the Spirit is your life.”
Thanks be to God, Amen.
Acknowledgement of the Land
We acknowledge this land as the traditional lands of the Anishinabewaki, Haudenosaunee and Huron-Wendat First Nations, governed by the Williams Treaties and Treaty Number Twenty. We give thanks for the stewardship of the first people of this land. May we live within the agreements of Truth and Reconciliation.
One: Good Morning and welcome! May the Holy Spirit of the Risen Christ be with you!
ALL: And ma the Spirit in us greet the Spirit in you!
One: We have come to celebrate the birth of the church, through the gift of the Holy spirit. We have come to celebrate Pentecost, and to open ourselves to god’s Spirit working through us.
ALL: May the Spirit that raised Christ from the grave raise us up in the love of God.
One: Let us Unite in Prayer. Let us Pray:
ALL: Spirit of the Living God, fill us anew on this Day of Pentecost
Come, on rushing winds that sweep away the barriers of inequity
Come, with tongues of flame that set our hearts on fire for you
Come, with love that razes human boundaries of face and nation.
Come Holy Spirit, come. Amen.
One: Spirit of Health and Wholeness
ALL: Bind us to one another in a spirit of healing, grace, and gratitude in the light of Christ we pray, Amen.
HYMN OF APPROACH: Voices United #205 “Like the Murmur of the Dove’s Song“
One: Jesus taught us not to be anxious about our lives or about tomorrow, yet fear and anxiety weigh on our hearts. Let us seek consolation in the loving kindness of God’s forgiving Spirit. Let us pray: Spirit of God, you are the breath of creation, the wind of change that blows throughout lives, and the fresh breeze that enlivens new dreams, new hope, and new life in Jesus Christ.
ALL: Merciful God, forgive our closed minds that resist new ideas, new understandings and new insight. forgive us for preferring the stale bread of the past for the Living Water of the Spirit of Peace. Loving God, forgive our closed eyes that fail to see the needs of your world, and that remain blind to opportunities of reconciliation, unity and love. Refreshing God, forgive our closed hearts which limits our affections to our own well-being, and the entitlement of those we choose to hold close. We ask forgiveness for the blindness of spirit that leads to closed eyes, closed hands and closed hearts. May the fresh breeze of your Spirit blow away the self-centeredness of our age and open our hearts to embrace all whom you have created. In Christ we pray, Amen.
One: Friends, this is the Good News: God loves each one of us with a deep and profound love beyond our human understanding, and God delights in an honest and contrite heart. Trough transparency we are renewed, through humility we rise, and through contrition we are restored to a vibrant relationship with our Eternal source. Thanks be to God for the paradox of love.
One: The peace of Christ be with you all.
ALL: AND ALSO WITH YOU.
One: Let us greet one another with the Peace of Christ.
WORDS FOR THE YOUNG–AND EVERYONE: “The Best Gift in the World”
HYMN OF DEVOTION: Voices United #382 “Breathe on Me, Breath of God“
MINISTRY OF THE WORD
1 Corinthians 12: 4–13 (link to this week’s scripture readings)
Galatians 5: 22–25
(lyrics unavailable, due to copyright)
THE CHURCH RESPONDS TO THE WORD
THANKSGIVING AND DEDICATION
Minute for Missions, Messages from Ministries, and receiving gifts offered to the work of the ministry:
ALL: (Sung Response): “What Can I Do?” More Voices 191
What can I do? What can I bring?/ What can I say? What can I sing?
I’ll sing with joy, I’ll say a prayer/ I’ll bring my love, I’ll do my share!
OFFERING PRAYERS AND THANKSGIVING FOR GIFTS TO THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY
One: The Scriptures remind that, ‘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. Therefore, let us pray, and let us do so asking that God will shape us in the image of our prayers.
Let us Pray: At this Pentecost moment, we are not alone: God will reveal Creation’s dream,
ALL: as we give thanks for whose we are.
[Have a moment of silence to reflect on how we can affirm each other as beloved children of our Creator.]
One: Christ will claim us as his own,
ALL: as we declare who we are.
[Have a moment of silence to reflect on how we can continue to declare our faith and identity as followers of Jesus.]
One: God’s Spirit will pour out on us,
ALL: as we anticipate who we will become.
[Have a moment of silence to reflect and give thanks for whom we hope to become with the Spirit’s help and guidance.]
One: At this Pentecost: We take courage in the assurance of whose we are; we affirm our call to be Christ’s disciples; and we trust the Spirit to guide us through the challenging space between who we are and who we will be. Surely, we are not alone.
ALL: Thanks be to God.
[Pause for a moment of silent or extemporaneous prayer.]
One: God, you have promised that where two or three are gathered in your name, you are here, in our midst. Fulfill now the desires and petitions of your people as may be best for us, granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the world to come, life everlasting through the Spirit of Christ, that taught us to pray saying:
OUR FATHER, WHO ART IN HEAVEN, HALLOWED BE THY NAME.
THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.
GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US.
AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL
FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY FOREVER AND EVERY. AMEN.
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH IN THE SCRIPTURES, TRUTH, AND CREEDS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH:
One: With Christians through time we affirm our belief in the Old and New Testaments as primary standards of Christian faith and life. The United Church of Canada also affirms that these timeless truths are expressed for our day in the poetic expression “A Song of Faith.” Let us declare our faith together:
We are not alone. We live in God’s world.
We believe in God, who has created and is creating,
who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others by the Spirit.
We trust in God. We are called to be the church:
to celebrate God’s presence, to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us.
We are not alone. Thanks be to God.
SENDING FORTH INTO THE MINISTRY OF THE BODY OF CHRIST
BENEDICTION & BLESSING
CHORALE BLESSING (“Go Now in Peace”)
Go now in peace. Never be afraid.
God will go with you each hour of every day.
Go now in faith, steadfast, strong and true.
Know He will guide you in all you do.
Go now in love, and show you believe.
Reach out to others so all the world can see.
God will be there watching from above.
Go now in peace, in faith, and in love.
THE CONCLUSION OF WORSHIP & THE BEGINNING OF MINISTRY FOR ALL IN CHRIST
Hampton United Church 