May 19, 2024 Pentecost

Each month, our community comes together to extend our blessings beyond the walls of our church through the "Monthly Mission" offering. This special collection traditionally supports various organizations and causes, reflecting our commitment to support God's mission in our community.

This month, the mission committee has decided to direct our "Monthly Mission" offering to an exceptionally vital cause — our own church. This offering will help to address an urgent need within our church budget that ensures our ministries continue to thrive and our facilities remain a welcoming place of worship and service.

While this might be a shift from our usual practice, it is a reminder that maintaining the strength and stability of our church is equally crucial in fulfilling our mission. It allows us to continue providing spiritual guidance, community support, and a facility for the whole community. We are “putting our own oxygen mask on first” this month to make sure we can support this neighborhood for many years to come.

We ask for your continued generosity to our May monthly mission, knowing that every contribution will play a direct role in sustaining the church. Let us come together in this collective effort to support St. Paul's as our monthly mission.

Thank you for your steadfast faith and dedication to St. Paul's.

Each communion Sunday thereafter we will have a basket for those who feel called to give above and beyond their pledge. This "second-mile" giving will help fund the pastor's discretionary fund, which helps meet community needs as they arise, such as gas, lodging, clothing, etc. Feel free to bring your spare cash and change to help make a change in the lives of those in need.

June 9, We have a Youth Choir visiting us and they will be providing some of their music during the service. We want to say, “Thank You” and welcome them with a potluck right after the service. St. Paul’s will be providing the dessert so plan on bringing a main dish, side, or salad to serve 12(since we are hosting the youth and their adult advisors)

Getting your Ducks in a Row-June 8th: Whether financial and estate planning, keeping medical records, planning for emergency evacuations, or simply making our lives less stressful, we all know we should be better organized. Since we don’t know where to start, we procrastinate. Senior advisor Judy Rough has spent her career helping older clients organize their lives. Though she lives in Denver, she has offered to sponsor a free community seminar at St. Paul’s. The only cost will be for binder materials, available upon registration. The workshop is only a starting point; be prepared to devote some time to following her advice. We’ll enjoy a potluck brunch followed by a half-day workshop. So, sharpen your pencils, bring that egg casserole, and prepare to get your “ducks in a row.” Remember to invite all your friends, since this is a community outreach from St. Paul’s.
Contact Jeanne Marsh (719-229-1708) or the church office to register.

Prelude
Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart
Mark Hayes Arr. Douglas Wagner
Cynthia Hibbetts

Welcome
Rev. David Petty

Special Music
Once in Royal David’s City
Jubilee Bells
 
Threshold Moment
Pastor Donnie Sturgill

On this Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate that God's people came from all over, speaking different languages, not always able to understand one another. but there on that first Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended upon them, made them able to hear one another in ways never before possible.
Let us affirm for one another that this is a church for all of God's people - from every tribe and nation - every language. We are all God's children.

Threshold Song
Who is My Mother, Who is My Brother?
TFWS #2225
WORDS: Shirley Erena Murray (Matt. 12:46-50; Mark 3:31-35; Luke 8:19-21) MUSIC: Jack Schrader © 1992 Hope Publishing Co.
 
1. Who is my mother,
who is my brother?
all those who gather
round Jesus Christ:
 
Spirit-blown people,
born from the Gospel
sit at the table,
round Jesus Christ.
 
2. Differently abled,
differently labeled
widen the circle
round Jesus Christ:
 
Crutches and stigmas,
cultures’ enigmas
all come together
round Jesus Christ.
 
3. Love will relate us
color or status
can’t segregate us,
round Jesus Christ:
 
Family failings,
human derailings
all are accepted,
round Jesus Christ.
 
4. Bound by one vision,
met for one mission
we claim each other,
round Jesus Christ:
 
Here is my mother,
here is my brother,
kindred in Spirit,
through Jesus Christ.

Calling on God Prayer
Pastor Donnie Sturgill

Leader: Let us pray together:
 
People: Almighty and Everlasting God, on this day of Pentecost, we remember the outpouring of Your Holy Spirit upon the disciples, igniting them with the flames of Your love and empowering them to speak in tongues. Like a mighty wind, Your Spirit swept through the room, bringing life and power to all present. We pray for Your Spirit upon us today, that we might be emboldened to proclaim Your truth with courage and clarity. Unite us in Your Spirit, that despite our many backgrounds, we may come together as one body in Christ, sharing Your message of love with all the world. Fill us with the fire of Your love, that we might transform the world in Your name. Amen.

Opening Hymn
As a Fire is Meant for Burning
v. 1, 3 TFWS #2237
WORDS: Ruth Duck
MUSIC: From The Sacred Harp, 1844
© 1992 GIA Publications, Inc.
 
1. As a fire is
meant for burning
with a bright and
warming flame,
 
so the church is
meant for mission,
giving glory
to God’s name.
 
Not to preach our
creed or customs,
but to build a bridge of care,
we join hands
across the nations,
finding neighbors
everywhere.
 
3. As a green bud
in the springtime
is a sign of life renewed,
so may we be
signs of oneness
’mid earth’s peoples,
many hued.
 
As a rainbow
lights the heavens
when a storm is
past and gone,
 
may our lives
reflect the radiance
of God’s new
and glorious dawn.

Passing the Peace of Christ
 
Mystery Box

Scripture Reading
Ephesians 2:11-22 The Message
Acts 2:1-21

11-13 But don’t take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God’s ways had no idea of any of this, didn’t know the first thing about the way God works, hadn’t the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God’s covenants and promises in Israel, hadn’t a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of Christ—dying that death, shedding that blood—you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything.
14-15 The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.
16-18 Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.
19-22 That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.
Acts 2:1-21
 When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.
5-11 There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were blown away. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, “Aren’t these all Galileans? How come we’re hearing them talk in our various mother tongues?
Parthians, Medes, and Elamites;
Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene;
Immigrants from Rome, both Jews and proselytes;
Even Cretans and Arabs!
“They’re speaking our languages, describing God’s mighty works!”
12 Their heads were spinning; they couldn’t make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: “What’s going on here?”
13 Others joked, “They’re drunk on cheap wine.”
14-21 That’s when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: “Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. These people aren’t drunk as some of you suspect. They haven’t had time to get drunk—it’s only nine o’clock in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen:
“In the Last Days,” God says,
“I will pour out my Spirit
on every kind of people:
Your sons will prophesy,
also your daughters;
Your young men will see visions,
your old men dream dreams.

When the time comes,
I’ll pour out my Spirit
On those who serve me, men and women both,
and they’ll prophesy.

I’ll set wonders in the sky above
and signs on the earth below,
Blood and fire and billowing smoke,
the sun turning black and the moon blood-red,
Before the Day of the Lord arrives,
the Day tremendous and marvelous;
And whoever calls out for help
to me, God, will be saved.”

Prayer of Illumination
Rev. David Petty

Leader: May the words of my mouth,
People: and the meditations of all of our hearts
All: be acceptable in your sight, O Lord our rock and our redeemer.
Psalm 19:14

Message 
A Birthday for the Church
Rev. David Petty

Prayer, Silent Prayer, The Lord’s Prayer 
 
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. 
 
Lead us not 
into temptation 
but deliver us from evil. 
 
For Thine is the Kingdom, 
and the Power 
and the Glory forever.
Amen

Communion

Pastor: The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Pastor: Lift up your hearts. The pastor may lift hands and keep them raised.

People: We lift them up to the Lord.

Pastor: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

People: It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth. In the beginning your Spirit moved over the face of the waters. You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life. When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast. Your Spirit came upon prophets and teachers, anointing them to speak your Word.
And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

People: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ. At His baptism in the Jordan your Spirit descended upon Him and declared Him your beloved Son. With your Spirit upon Him He turned away the temptations of sin. Your Spirt anointed Him to preach goof news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people.
He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners. By the baptism of His suffering, death, and resurrection, you gave birth to your Church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.
When the Lord Jesus ascended, he promised to be with us always, baptizing us with the Holy Spirit and with fire, as on the Day of Pentecost.
On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: "Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me."
When the supper was over he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:
"Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."
On the day you raised him from the dead he was recognized by his disciples in the breaking of the bread, and in the power of your Holy Spirit your Church has continued in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup.
And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

People: Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine.
Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood and empowered by the gifts of the Spirit.
By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, showing forth the fruit of the Spirit until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.
Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church,
all honor and glory is yours, almighty God, now and for ever. Amen.

All: Amen.

Hymn
Spirit of the Living God
UMH #393
WORDS: Daniel Iverson, 1926 (Acts 11:15) 
© 1938, renewal © 1963 Birdwing Music

Spirit of the living God,
fall afresh on me.
Spirit of the living God,
fall afresh on me.
 
Melt me, mold me,
fill me, use me.
Spirit of the living God,
fall afresh on me.
Repeat four times

Hymn             UMH #620
One Bread, One Body
WORDS: John B. Foley, 1978 (1 Cor. 10:16-17; Gal. 3:28; 1 Cor. 12) © 1978, 1989 John B. Foley and North American Liturgy Resources
 
Refrain
One bread, one body,
one Lord of all,
one cup of blessing
which we bless.
 
And we, though many
throughout the earth,
we are one body
in this one Lord.
 
1. Gentile or Jew,
servant or free,
woman or man,
no more.
 
Refrain
One bread, one body,
one Lord of all,
one cup of blessing
which we bless.
 
And we, though many
throughout the earth,
we are one body
in this one Lord.
 
2. Many the gifts,
many the works,
one in the Lord of all.
 
Refrain
One bread, one body,
one Lord of all,
one cup of blessing
which we bless.
 
And we, though many
throughout the earth,
we are one body
in this one Lord.
 
3. Grain for the fields,
scattered and grown,
gathered to one, for all.
 
Refrain
One bread, one body,
one Lord of all,
one cup of blessing
which we bless.
 
And we, though many
throughout the earth,
we are one body
in this one Lord.

Closing Blessing
Pastor Donnie Sturgill

Closing Hymn
We Are the Church
UMH #558
WORDS: Richard K. Avery and Donald S. Marsh, 1972 © 1972 Hope Publishing Co.
 
Refrain
I am the church!
You are the church!
We are the
church together!
 
All who follow Jesus,
all around the world!
Yes, we’re the
church together!
 
1. The church is
not a building,
the church is not a steeple,
the church is
not a resting place,
the church is a people.
 
Refrain
I am the church!
You are the church!
We are the
church together!
 
All who follow Jesus
all around the world
Yes, we’re the
church together!
 
2. We’re many
kinds of people,
with many kinds of faces,
all colors and
all ages, too,
from all times and places.
 
Refrain
I am the church!
You are the church!
We are the
church together!
 
All who follow Jesus
all around the world
Yes, we’re the
church together!
 
3. Sometimes the
church is marching,
sometimes it’s
bravely burning,
sometimes it’s riding,
sometimes hiding,
always it’s learning.
 
Refrain
I am the church!
You are the church!
We are the
church together!
 
All who follow Jesus
all around the world
Yes, we’re the
church together!
 
4. And when the
people gather,
there’s singing
and there’s praying,
there’s laughing and
there’s crying sometimes,
all of it saying:
 
Refrain
I am the church!
You are the church!
We are the
church together!
 
All who follow Jesus
all around the world
Yes, we’re the
church together!
 
5. At Pentecost some people
received the Holy Spirit
and told the Good News
through the world
to all who would hear it.
 
Refrain
I am the church!
You are the church!
We are the
church together!
 
All who follow Jesus
all around the world
Yes, we’re the
church together!
 
Benediction
Rev. David Petty

Postlude
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
Martin Luther
Arr. John Ringley
Cynthia Hibbetts