However, it was just me by myself in the sanctuary, physically. Though I wasn't alone. I had my worship technology folks with me via the computer. Preaching in the empty sanctuary has been so very different. Going back to March 15th, there was the extreme nervous energy of doing something totally different. Now, there is more of a routine, yet, there are still differences each week. I have had to learn, adapt, be flexible, as have many others along this journey.
I really miss the faces, the energy, the laughter, the tears, the singing, the praying, etc. I recognize that when we do gather again, things will still be different. I am okay with that. I only thought I was "open hands" and "go with the flow" before this pandemic. I think I am much more so now.
The message for Pentecost Sunday was "Same Spirit" from 1 Corinthians 12: 3b-13. Below you will find the sermon message in written form, the Soundcloud recording, and the YouTube link to the video of the entire service. I'll include the "bulletin" or "Order of Worship". It's a simple guide to go by. We post the lyrics to the songs in the comments of the Order of Worship for those who want to sing along.
Even though I didn't get to give out the bubbles this year (I guess I could have if I had driven all over Hamilton, Walker, and Catoosa counties), I still wore red for Pentecost. I wore my new Pentecost flame tie-dye shirt, my flame earrings, and my red sandals (that no one got to see). My Jesus doll was with me in the service, in his tie-dye, to remind us all of his presence and that he was ready to celebrate the what the church was called to be and do too. Though he wasn't wearing a flame shirt, he did have a red spot on his.
For Pentecost, I changed my profile picture and found a frame that contains this portion of the prayer we use in the Emmaus community: "Come Holy Spirit and renew the face of the earth." I find myself saying, "Come, Holy Spirit, come" often these days.
Maybe there is something in the songs, in the Scripture, in the sermon, in the prayer that speaks to you.
We added a prelude back into this week due to an announcement that need to be shown on the slides about an upcoming survey. Shane McElveen, our music director sings "Draw the Circle Wide". We have used this song in a service prior. I find it extremely appropriate for us as an inclusive congregation. I also find it appropriate in this day and age in which we have the opportunity to draw the circle wide. You can hear it in the YouTube service.
Thanks for joining me on this adventurous journey,
Rev. Deb
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“Same Spirit”
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 (CEB)
May 31, 2020 (Pentecost Sunday)
St. Elmo UMC (FB Live)
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 (CEB)
[N]o
one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. 4 There
are different spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; 5 and there are different ministries and the
same Lord; 6 and there are
different activities but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. 7 A demonstration of the Spirit is given to
each person for the common good. 8 A
word of wisdom is given by the Spirit to one person, a word of knowledge to
another according to the same Spirit, 9 faith
to still another by the same Spirit, gifts of healing to another in the one
Spirit, 10 performance of
miracles to another, prophecy to another, the ability to tell spirits apart to
another, different kinds of tongues to another, and the interpretation of
the tongues to another. 11 All
these things are produced by the one and same Spirit who gives what he wants to
each person.
12 Christ is just like the
human body—a body is a unit and has many parts; and all the parts of the body
are one body, even though there are many. 13 We were
all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jew or Greek, or slave or
free, and we all were given one Spirit to drink.
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THIS IS THE WORD OF GOD FOR THE PEOPLE OF
GOD.
THANKS
BE TO GOD.
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Today is Pentecost Sunday, a day in which we
celebrate the birth of the church and celebrate the many gifts bestowed upon
all for the health and growth of the kingdom.
What happened on Pentecost? The Acts 2:1-21 reading from the lectionary
gives an in-depth look at that, so check that out sometime.
Here’s a synopsis from Rueben Job in A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God:
“Without Pentecost, the incarnation of God in Christ would just be a story told
through the centuries. At Pentecost, that story was internalized and became
personal; God in Christ became incarnate in ordinary disciples. Wind and fire shook, transformed, and filled
those very human and ordinary believers with the divine Spirit of God, thus
giving birth to the church.” (217)
Did you catch that?
God in Christ became incarnate in ordinary disciples. Ordinary believers, like you, like me, were
filled with the divine Spirit of God.
What a “WOW” moment that must have been.
Rueben Job continues, “The faithful continue to
receive this gift of God-dwelling-within to provide direction, courage,
comfort, hope, companionship, and peace.” (217)
The indwelling Spirit of God wasn’t solely for those
present then. It is for us now,
today. We are to use this gift to
‘provide direction, courage, comfort, hope, companionship, and peace.’
Today’s passage goes into detail on what the
different gifts of the Spirit are. Have
you thought about your giftedness?
If you are in the class “A Disciples’ Path” or you
are on Council, I know you have because we have done spiritual gifts inventory
in both those settings. It is helpful to
think about what our giftedness is.
Sometimes we might not see it for ourselves. We can ask those around us what they see in
us as we seek to discern our giftedness.
Once we determine our giftedness, we are to live
into it, to use it for the good of the kingdom and the glory of God. As Rueben Job said, ‘to provide direction,
courage, comfort, companionship, and peace.’
What we know is that we are all gifted differently
and uniquely, yet it is the same Spirit that gifts us all for the common
good. With those different gifts, we
will have different ministries and different activities. Yet the Spirit, the Lord, and God are the
same.
This is how we accomplish kingdom work, by living
into our different gifts.
What are the gifts we find in this passage?
Verse 8—word of wisdom and word of knowledge
Verse 9—faith and gifts of healing
Verse 10—performance of miracles, prophecy, ability
to tell spirits apart, different kinds of tongues, interpretations of tongues
There are other Scripture passages that list other
gifts, but the intention today is not an in-depth study. If you are interested in diving deeper, look
up the spiritual gifts passages. You
might also want to do a spiritual gifts inventory to determine what your gifts
are. There is a short inventory on
umcdiscipleship.orgà https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/spiritual-gifts-inventory. I will post it later in online.
A reminder from verse 11: “All these things are
produced by the one and same Spirit”.
Verses 12-13—“Christ is just like the human body--a
body is a unit and has many parts; and all the parts of the body are one body,
even though there are many. We were all
baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jew or Greek, or slave or free,
and we all were given one Spirit to drink.”
Note: We are
ONE body. We have many parts, but we are
ONE body. Whatever we do to any of the
parts, we are doing to ourselves.
Therefore, might we be more cautious in how we treat the body? Might we take more time to get to know the
other parts of the body and how they function before we treat them poorly or
with disdain or with fear?
Have you ever watched a stroke patient or someone
with a TBI or even someone recovering from any type of surgery have to deal
with body parts that just wouldn’t function like the person wanted to, needed
to, desired them to?!?! I have. And, I’ve been there personally. After my hip surgery two years ago, my body
wouldn’t respond like I wanted it to for quite a while. It took quite a bit of time to relearn, to
train the muscles, to live into how my body was going to be going forward.
There was fear of falling, fear of popping out the
new joint. It took effort to get beyond
the fear and to literally walk by faith.
If that is the physical body, what about the
spiritual body, the emotional body, our body in Christ? We have many things that keep us from moving
forward still, don’t we?!?!
We have fear and ignorance still today in our
society. Fear of the unknown. Fear of the other. We allow fear to grow and create chasms between
the body.
We, who are of the same Spirit, must start listening
to the One Spirit. We must take action
that brings healing and wholeness to this one body that is made up of many
parts.
Mandisa, a contemporary singer, has a song: “Bleed
the Same”.
Hear these lyrics:
Woke
up today
Another headline
Another innocent life is taken
In the name of hatred
So hard to take (hey!)
And if we think that it's all good
Then we're mistaken
'Cause my heart is breaking (tell it, 'Dis)
Another headline
Another innocent life is taken
In the name of hatred
So hard to take (hey!)
And if we think that it's all good
Then we're mistaken
'Cause my heart is breaking (tell it, 'Dis)
Are
you left?
Are you right?
Pointing fingers, taking sides
When are we gonna realize?
Are you right?
Pointing fingers, taking sides
When are we gonna realize?
We
all bleed the same
We're more beautiful when we come together
We all bleed the same
So tell me why, tell me why
We're divided
If we're gonna fight
Let's fight for each other
If we're gonna shout
Let love be the cry
We all bleed the same
So tell me why, tell me why
We're divided
We're more beautiful when we come together
We all bleed the same
So tell me why, tell me why
We're divided
If we're gonna fight
Let's fight for each other
If we're gonna shout
Let love be the cry
We all bleed the same
So tell me why, tell me why
We're divided
Tell
me, who are we
To judge someone
By the kind of clothes they're wearing
Or the color of their skin?
To judge someone
By the kind of clothes they're wearing
Or the color of their skin?
Are
you black? (black)
Are you white? (white)
Aren't we all the same inside? (the same inside)
Father, open our eyes to see!
Are you white? (white)
Aren't we all the same inside? (the same inside)
Father, open our eyes to see!
We
all bleed the same (we all bleed the same)
We're more beautiful when we come together
We all bleed the same (we all bleed the same)
So tell me why, tell me why
We're divided
If we're gonna fight
Let's fight for each other (fight for each other!)
If we're gonna shout
Let love be the cry (be the cry!)
We all bleed the same (we all bleed the same)
So tell me why, tell me why
We're divided
We're more beautiful when we come together
We all bleed the same (we all bleed the same)
So tell me why, tell me why
We're divided
If we're gonna fight
Let's fight for each other (fight for each other!)
If we're gonna shout
Let love be the cry (be the cry!)
We all bleed the same (we all bleed the same)
So tell me why, tell me why
We're divided
Only
love can drive out all the darkness
What are we fighting for?
We were made to carry one another
We were made for more, said
Only love can drive out all the darkness
What are we fighting for? yeah
We were made to carry one another
We were made for more!
What are we fighting for?
We were made to carry one another
We were made for more, said
Only love can drive out all the darkness
What are we fighting for? yeah
We were made to carry one another
We were made for more!
We
all bleed the same (we all bleed the same)
We're more beautiful when we come together (let's stand united!)
We all bleed the same (we all bleed the same)
So tell me why, tell me why
We're divided
If we're gonna fight
Let's fight for each other (fight for each other!)
If we're gonna shout
Let love be the cry (be the cry!)
We all bleed the same(we all bleed the same) (bleed the same)
Let's stand united (let's stand united)
Let's stand united!
We're more beautiful when we come together (let's stand united!)
We all bleed the same (we all bleed the same)
So tell me why, tell me why
We're divided
If we're gonna fight
Let's fight for each other (fight for each other!)
If we're gonna shout
Let love be the cry (be the cry!)
We all bleed the same(we all bleed the same) (bleed the same)
Let's stand united (let's stand united)
Let's stand united!
So
Father God, I pray
That our families will come together right now
And seek Your face
You will forgive our sins
And You will heal our incredible land
In the name of the only Savior, Jesus Christ
Amen
That our families will come together right now
And seek Your face
You will forgive our sins
And You will heal our incredible land
In the name of the only Savior, Jesus Christ
Amen
St. Elmo UMC—we are an inclusive congregation. We ALL bleed the same.
How can we apply this passage today as we celebrate
the birth of the church on this Pentecost Sunday?
Here are a few ways…. You might add more.
*We can remember that each part is needed and
necessary.
*We can figure out what our part is in the body.
*We can take action to live into it.
*We can work to eradicate fear in our own lives and
seek to educate ourselves and others on topics of inclusiveness, love, and
working to overcome racism. Check out our
FB page for an upcoming book study.
*We can truly celebrate our giftedness and the
giftedness of each other. We can give
thanks to the one Spirit who has gifted each of us.
As we celebrate this day when the Holy Spirit came
upon all, may we respond as did those back then, noted by Rueben Job: “Ordinary
men and women became full of faith and fearless. Fearful men and women became
courageous witnesses to God’s mighty and saving acts. Weak and timid disciples became strong and
powerful witnesses to the Good News of God’s saving acts in the world.” (217)
May we celebrate Pentecost by living into who and
whose we are created to be. Amen! (Will you pray with me?) [SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD]
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LINKS:
Entire service on YouTube
Mandisa's "Bleed the Same"
Draw the Circle Wide-- another version
