GREETING (adapted from Psalm 51:10-12)
Create in us clean hearts, O God,
and put a new and right Spirit within us.
Do not cast us away from your presence,
and do not take your Holy Spirit from us.
Restore to us the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in us a willing spirit.
HYMN 651 “Come, Holy Ghost, Our Souls Inspire”
PSALM 104:31-34, 35b
PRAYER
(Think back to the beginning of this day. Start there, and mentally walk through the day again, while you thank God for the day's blessings and God's continuous work of love. Confess and repent of those times when you forgot, ignored or rebelled against God. Continue to pray with your personal prayer list.)
SCRIPTURE LESSON
(Choose a passage of scripture to read. It can be a chapter, a paragraph, or a particular story. Daily lectionaries are available online or in print that assign a lesson each day from the gospels, epistles, Old Testament and psalms on a three-year cycle. Or you can create a plan to read a book of the Bible, or the whole Bible. Then follow the steps below.)
Read a passage of scripture. Read it out loud, very slowly and carefully as if for the first time. Continue reading until a word, phrase or sentence captures your attention. Stop there to repeat the word, phrase or sentence over and over, listening to it deeply in your heart.
Reflect on why the passage got your attention. Consider the area of your life to which this may apply. Is God saying something to you in this passage? Take time to listen carefully to whatever God may be saying to you.
Respond to God in prayer (or with journaling, music, art or whatever you choose) about what you have heard. Ask questions. Open yourself to God’s will for you.
Rest in God’s company. Be still and quiet. Move beyond thinking, practicing interior silence. Let yourself be open to God’s presence. Savor this moment with God.
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
(Declare your faith by repeating “The Apostles’ Creed” (882) or “The Nicene Creed,” (880) or use the following affirmation.)
We believe that God is One,
and we experience God as three.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
live in a perfect unity and love.
God the Father sent the Son,
and is today sending the Spirit.
We cannot demand Spirit.
The Holy Spirit comes as a gift.
We can pray for the Spirit,
and we can welcome the Spirit.
And best of all, we can live
in holiness, full of God’s Spirit.
In the Spirit, we are guided,
with a teacher and conscience.
We have a holy advocate,
a comforter, healer and friend.
The Spirit provides strength,
encouragement, and passion.
The Spirit is divine presence,
God providing personal care.
It is like God lives within us,
but the world knows not of this.
Because they cannot see,
or hear, or feel, or even believe;
the world is overwhelmed,
and stumbles in blind darkness.
Only the gift of the Spirit,
brings light into the darkness.
The Spirit defeats ignorance,
selfishness, divisiveness and evil.
The Spirit overcomes our
separation with communication,
our anger with compassion,
and our indifference with love.
The Spirit inspires, leads,
sanctifies, empowers and seals.
The Holy Spirit endows us
with gifts that differ, but unite.
The spiritual gifts we enjoy,
find their source and purpose;
in God’s living presence,
filling us and the whole church.
There is no communion,
more desirable or dependable;
than God’s holy company
experienced in the Holy Spirit,
our best partner and friend,
our help in every human need.
We are Holy Spirit people,
born from above in Jesus Christ.
And in the Spirit’s power,
we will live with God forever. Amen.
GLORY BE TO THE FATHER 70 or 71
PRAYER
God who comes, among us walks, within us guides,
and in perfect unity gathers into one your children;
like fallen glass, your children have been broken,
and scattered everywhere into thousands of pieces.
With different opinions, different beliefs, we fight;
with different ethnicities, and skin tones, we battle.
With different languages and backgrounds, we hate;
with different regions, different nations, we divide.
We let our differences define us, and confuse us,
and demand above all our differences be preserved.
But you God are One, and there is one creation.
In Jesus, you came to us once, died once, rose once.
You pour out one Spirit over all of your children,
and gather us into one church with one living Lord.
We tack different names over the church doors,
in honor of the countless differences separating us.
But you wash away the names with one baptism,
in honor of one name – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We construct different styles of worship and music,
to satisfy different preferences of the different people.
But you feed your children with one communion,
one flesh, one blood, of the one body – Jesus Christ.
We interpret and apply scripture in different ways,
to express different truths in which we cannot agree.
But you give us one gospel, one grace, one Word,
and gather us in one commission to go into the world.
And you give us one heart, God, to heal the sick,
feed the hungry, cloth the naked, shelter the homeless.
And you love us all, God, with one almighty love,
and tirelessly work to gather us in your one kingdom.
We may fall like separate, individual raindrops,
but you, God, gather us together into one mighty river,
a single river that flows from your one holy throne,
one mighty river poured out in one, holy unity of love.
Now let your Spirit’s unifying work produce in us,
one Church that proclaims eternal love for you, God. Amen.
SILENCE AND COMMITMENT
(Pause to reflect and listen. Work to push out of your mind any distracting or irrelevant thoughts. Concentrate your thoughts on the words of the hymns and choruses you have sung, the prayers you have spoken and the scriptures you have read. Be aware of what you are feeling. Listen for anything that God might be saying to you in this time you have spent together. As God responds to your prayer-time, seek guidance for how you can best respond to God’s will. Then commit to serving God’s will for you.)
HYMN 537 “Filled with the Spirit’s Power”
CLOSING PRAYER
We thank you God for your Holy Spirit,
the Spirit that abides in us and we in you.
Take the day we have just lived together,
and let your Spirit winnow it for its good.
Lift up the faith, truth and righteousness,
the service and love to you and neighbors.
Shine your light on acts of self-giving,
works for justice and promotion of hope.
Shape what you have taught us this day,
grow us spiritually, fit us to your holy will.
Let all the good in this day, glorify you,
and become a beckoning light to the world.
Let your Spirit whisper to us dreams,
that guide us into all of your abiding truth.
And from out of our hearts, O God,
let flow tomorrow rivers of living water. Amen.
Copyright 2020. Robert D. Ingram, 32746 Jourden Rd., Albany, Ohio 45710 (dr.bobingram@gmail.com). Used by permission.
