Greetings to all,
Please find attached the order of worship for this coming Sunday, when we celebrate Pentecost Sunday. We will be worshiping “live” from the parsonage again at 9:30 a.m. this Sunday.
Please find attached the worship liturgy for Sunday’s worship service, which you can print so that you can follow and participate in worship.
~~~
Pentecost Sunday
May 31, 2020
Community Congregational Church,
United Church of Christ
P.O. Box 5574 Chula Vista, CA 91912
www.chulavistachurch.com
Call to Worship:
Pastor: We have come to celebrate the birthday of the church.
People: We have come to celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Pastor: We have come to celebrate Pentecost and to open ourselves to God’s Spirit that it might fill us.
Together: O God, help us to put our selfish desires aside and direct our thoughts to you, that your power might fill this church and our lives fully, just as it has filled churches and people through the ages. Teach us to be your church and your people wherever we go and whatever we do. Amen.
Prayer of Invocation: (In unison)
Dear Creator of heaven and earth, be with us as we worship and praise your name. Be with us as we gather as a community of God, asking that the Holy Spirit descend on us as it did in that upper room of our ancestors so many years ago. We welcome the Holy Spirit which sustains us each and every day in the Name of Jesus. Amen.
Opening Hymn of Praise: “Every Time I Feel The Spirit” (New Century Hymnal 282, verses 1 and 2)
(Refrain)
Every time I feel the Spirit in my Heart I will pray. Yes, every time I feel the Spirit moving in my heart I will pray.
Verse 1
Upon the mountain my God spoke, out of God’s mouth came fire and smoke. Looked all around me, looked so fine. I asked my God if all were mine.
(Refrain)
Every time I feel the Spirit in my Heart I will pray. Yes, every time I feel the Spirit moving in my heart I will pray.
Verse 2:
Oh, Jordan river, chilly and cold, it chills the body, not the soul. There’s only one train this track it runs to heaven, then right back.
(Refrain)
Every time I feel the Spirit in my Heart I will pray. Yes, every time I feel the Spirit moving in my heart I will pray.
Prayers of the People and Lord’s Prayer:
Come Holy Spirit, come!
Enter our lives. Free us from all fear.
Give us strength to carry on.
Give us hope ad joy sufficient for each day.
Come, Holy Spirit, come:
Give us power to be the Church.
Impart your many gifts to our members,
That we may be the body of Christ’s presence in the world.
Free us from all fear, and renew our life together.
Come, Holy Spirit, come.
Bind us close together.
May we rejoice with one another’s joys and weep with one another’s sorrows.
Bind us together, not only with the sheep of this fold,
But all of Christ’s people around this city and world.
Forgive the price, prejudice, and self-righteousness which separate us from one another.
Come, Holy Spirit, come:
That all may be one in Christ, source of all true unity,
Who is with us today and always, even to the end of time. Amen.
Special Music “People Need The Lord” sung by Abner Limbo
Scripture Reading Acts 2: 1-21 (Read in Spanish and English)
The Coming of the Holy Spirit
2 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 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. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
Peter Addresses the Crowd
14 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. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘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.
18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
20 The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Sermon: “Come Holy Spirit, Come!”
Closing Hymn “Revive Us Again” (Red Hymnal, #574)
Verse 1
We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of Thy love for Jesus who died and is now gone above.
(Refrain)
Hallelujah, Thine the glory! Hallelujah, amen! Hallelujah, Thine the glory! Revive us again.
Verse 2
We praise Thee, O God, for Thy Spirit of light. Who has shown us our Savior and banished our night.
(Refrain)
Hallelujah, Thine the glory! Hallelujah, amen! Hallelujah, Thine the glory! Revive us again.
Verse 3
Revive us again fill each heart with Thy love. May each soul be rekindled with fire from above.
(Refrain)
Hallelujah, Thine the glory! Hallelujah, amen! Hallelujah, Thine the glory! Revive us again.
Benediction (in Unison)
Let us go now as Spirited people, powerful as the wide in doing God’s will, energetic as fire in extending the love of Christ. Be builders of understanding and makers of peace.
Announcements
~
(The Call to Worship and the Pastoral Prayer are from Gifts of the Spirit, by Ruth C. Duck. The Pilgrim Press., New York, NY. 1985. The prayer of Invocation is from Worship Ways, online liturgy from. Justice and Local Church Ministries Team, The United Church of Christ, Cleveland, OH.2020)