Day of Pentecost (Year A): Litany for Holy Spirit Fire

I'll mostly let Frederick Buechner do the commenting this week. Except to say, the Lectionary is never the wrong thing for the moment.  And to say: Rest in peace George Floyd, who was murdered in a racist act of police brutality earlier this week.

“Every morning you should wake up in your bed and ask yourself: "Can I believe it all again today?" No, better still, don't ask it till after you've read The New York Times, till after you've studied that daily record of the world's brokenness and corruption, which should always stand side by side with your Bible. Then ask yourself if you can believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ again for that particular day. If your answer's always Yes, then you probably don't know what believing means. At least five times out of ten the answer should be No because the No is as important as the Yes, maybe more so. The No is what proves you're human in case you should ever doubt it. And then if some morning the answer happens to be really Yes, it should be a Yes that's choked with confession and tears and. . . great laughter.”

― Frederick Buechner

God, our world is rife with violence and evil
With cruelty, injustice, and materialism.
We need Holy Spirit’s fire
To burn away our unjust systems…

Pentecost (Year C): Litany for Oneness

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The Day of Pentecost in the Church Calendar marks the beginning of a new season: The season of Pentecost. From Eastertide and resurrection, to Ascension (the feast of Ascension was this past week), and now to the revealing (in a more public way than was revealed in John 20) of the Spirit and the spirit's loving essence of inclusion and enfolding of many into divine Oneness. Just exactly as Jesus had prayed in last week's Lectionary Gospel passage: "that they may be one."

This litany is drawn from John 14 and Psalm 104, Lectionary selections for Pentecost, Year C.

God, you have always been showing us what Oneness looks like
First in Nature.
Then in Christ.
Now in the Spirit. 

Pentecost (Year B): Litany for Walking in Spirit

This Litany for Pentecost Sunday is taken from a reading of the Lectionary passages for the day.

God, let us walk in the persuasive love and power of your Spirit,
Seeing with your vision,
Dreaming with your creativity,
Speaking the universal language of love. (1)

You are making yourself available to us:
Through Christ and his communion,
You are making yourself known to us,
Through Spirit and her presence.

Grant that we may cast off our old prejudices:
    Regarding gender,
    Regarding race,
    Regarding qualifications;
And that we may follow the wind of your spirit
Wherever it goes,
Listening to the whispering rustle of your voice, (2)
Wherever we hear it.

The energy of your spirit
Is the energy we need
To power our good works,
To fuel our imaginations.

Pour out your Spirit upon us,
That we may speak to death and bring forth life, (3)
Embody your ways,
And create with you your city of light.
Amen


1) Acts 2:6
2) Acts 2:2
3) Ezekiel 37:9
 

Pentecost 3 (Year A): Litany for Wonders

The Old Testament text for this third week of Pentecost is Genesis 18, the account of messengers coming to Abraham and Sarah and informing them that Sarah will give birth to a child in her old age. When Sarah hears this, she sees the irony and humor of it - Now? After I’m old and gray and spent my youth hoping and praying for a child? Now? I imagine she laughed for joy and irony and disbelief and the ignorance of men. I imagine if she’d been texting her sister in that moment she’d be like IDK IF THESE OLD DUDES KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT WOMEN. WE ARE NOT ETERNALLY FERTILE. LOL!

But the Lord responds: Is anything too wonderful for me?

And so, old Sarah gets knocked up, gives birth, and names her kid “Laughter.” Wonders never cease.

 

Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? (1)
Nothing is too wonderful for you.
You make wonders bloom from your hands,
And from your imagination spring amazing things.

Your wonders will never cease.
Your wonders will never cease.

Old women bear children. (2)
Trees bear fruit out of season.
Rocks give forth springs of water. (3)
Seas part. (4)
Storms are stilled. (5)
Sickness and disease are cured. (6)
Whole nations are brought out of bondage. (7)
Crowds are fed from your hand. (8)
Dry bones are enlivened. (9)
The dead are raised to life. (10)

Your wonders will never cease.
Your wonders will never cease.

We enter your presence with thanksgiving,
And your courts with praise.
We give thanks to you,
We bless your name.
For you are good; your steadfast love endures forever,
and your faithfulness to all generations. (11)

Amen

(1) Genesis 18:14
(2) Genesis 21:2
(3) Numbers 20:11
(4) Exodus 14:21
(5) Matthew 8, Mark 4
(6) Matthew 10:8
(7) Exodus 20
(8) Matthew 14, 15, John 6, Mark 8
(9) Ezekiel 37
(10) John 11, Mark 5, Luke 8, 1 Kings 17, 2 Kings 4, and many more
(11) Psalm 100:4,5

Pentecost: Litany for Spiritual Gifts

Pentecost is the day on the liturgical calendar in which we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit, as recorded in Acts 2, and predicted earlier by Jesus. I've drawn from the Lectionary texts for this week, specifically Acts 2 and John 7, for this piece.

Divine Being,
From whom every miracle has come,
Every artifact and invention of creation,
Every living thing from your imagination:

Pour out your Spirit upon us
That we may dream dreams
See visions
And speak with prophetic imagination*. (1)

Pour out your Spirit upon us,
That we may have the gift of faith,
Rivers of living water
Flowing from our hearts. (2)

Pour out your Spirit upon us
That we may bring your ways here to Earth
Live out the compassion of Christ,
And embody your kingdom.

Pour out your Spirit upon us,
That we may speak to all in ways they can understand
Of your lovingkindness --
The great lengths to which you’ve gone to draw us close.

Pour out your Spirit upon us,
That the world in which we live might be changed
That heaven might be found here
And that hope and life may be realized by all people.

Amen

(1) Acts 2:17
(2) John 7:38

*Prophetic Imagination is Brueggemann’s term, not mine.

Litany for Pentecost

Pentecost is the day in the liturgical calendar when the church celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the birth of the church as we know it, recorded in Acts 2. The Day of Pentecost concludes the Easter Season, and is celebrated ten days after Ascension Thursday. This year Pentecost is celebrated Sunday, May 15.

God, today we give thanks for the good gift of Your Holy Spirit, our helper.
Come Holy Spirit.
The Spirit of God present among us.
Come Holy Spirit.

As on the day of Pentecost, when Your spirit rested on Your followers as tongues of fire,
Rest on us now, Oh God
As they were filled with the spirit and began to speak and prophesy,
Fill us now, Oh God.

Just as Jesus promised, just as the Father has promised,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon us,
Empowering us to proclaim good news to the poor
Release for prisoners
To exchange beauty for ashes
Joy for mourning
A spirit of praise instead of despair.
Come Holy Spirit.

We are your church, your body on earth, who trust in the Resurrected Christ,
And in the Holy Spirit of God, here with us now.

Amen