Opening Prayer
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. (BCP 227)
Acts 2:1-21
On the day of Pentecost, seven
weeks after Jesus’ resurrection, the believers were meeting together in one
place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty
windstorm in the skies above them, and it filled the house where they were
meeting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled
on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began
speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
Godly Jews from many nations were
living in Jerusalem at that time. When they heard this sound, they came running
to see what it was all about, and they were bewildered to hear their own
languages being spoken by the believers.
They were beside themselves with
wonder. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee,
and yet we hear them speaking the languages of the lands where we were born!
Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea,
Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the
areas of Libya toward Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism),
Cretans, and Arabians. And we all hear these people speaking in our own
languages about the wonderful things God has done!” They stood there amazed and
perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other. But others in the crowd
were mocking. “They’re drunk, that’s all!” they said.
Then Peter stepped forward with the
eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you,
fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. Some of you
are saying these people are drunk. It isn’t true! It’s much too early for that.
People don’t get drunk by nine o’clock in the morning. No, what you see this
morning was predicted centuries ago by the prophet Joel:
In the last days, God said,
I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will
prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.
In those days I will pour out my
Spirit
upon all my servants, men and women alike,
and they will prophesy.
And I will cause wonders in the
heavens above
and signs on the earth below—
blood and fire and clouds of smoke.
The sun will be turned into
darkness,
and the moon will turn bloodred,
before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives.
And anyone who calls on the name of
the Lord
will be saved.’ NLT
“How can this be?”
French: Comment peut-il etre?
Spanish: Como puede ser?
Chinese: Zhe mo ke hen?
Swahili: Inawezekana aje?
Kinyarwanda: Bishoboka bite?
German: Wie ist das möglich?
Swedish: Hur kommer det då?
Eternal Trinity,
Godhead,
mystery deep as the sea,
you could give me no greater gift
than the gift of yourself.
For you are a fire
ever burning and never consumed,
which itself consumes all the
selfish love
that fills my being.
Yes, you are a fire
that takes away the coldness,
illuminates the mind with its
light,
and causes me to know your truth.
And I know that you are beauty and
wisdom itself.
The food of angels, you gave
yourself to man
in the fire of your love. —St.
Catherine of Siena, 1347-1380
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the journey continues. read on with
us through the season of worship and
mission following pentecost at right here at asburyreader.com
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