B40

Year B
Day of Pentecost
Sunday 27 May 2012

Eucharistic Preface

Let us lift up our hearts.
........We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
........It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God,
for you pour out your Spirit on all flesh
and amaze us with your deeds of power.

In your infinite wisdom, you created the earth
and made it pregnant with new life.
You raised living creatures from the dust,
by the power of your Word
and breathed into them the breath of your Spirit.

Your Son, Jesus, taught us your truth
and, before being given up to death,
he promised to send us the Holy Spirit
to support us in both strength and weakness
as we labour with you
to bring to birth the promised fulfilment
of our deepest hopes and yearnings.
In these last days you have poured out
the new wine of the Spirit,
intoxicating us with visions and dreams,
awakening within us your marvellous gifts
and firing our tongues with everlasting songs of joy.

Therefore with .....

©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Short Preface
(for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with fixed prefaces)

We give you thanks for pouring out the new wine of the Spirit
in these last days,
intoxicating us with visions and dreams,
awakening within us your marvellous gifts
and firing our tongues with everlasting songs of joy.

©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

General Prayer of Thanksgiving
(Preface reformatted for use apart from communion)

We give you all thanks and praise, O God,
for you pour out your Spirit on all flesh
and amaze us with your deeds of power.

In your infinite wisdom, you created the earth
and made it pregnant with new life.
You raised living creatures from the dust,
by the power of your Word
and breathed into them the breath of your Spirit.

Your Son, Jesus, taught us your truth
and, before being given up to death,
he promised to send us the Holy Spirit
to support us in both strength and weakness
as we labour with you
to bring to birth the promised fulfilment
of our deepest hopes and yearnings.
In these last days you have poured out
the new wine of the Spirit,
intoxicating us with visions and dreams,
awakening within us your marvellous gifts
and firing our tongues with everlasting songs of joy.

Therefore, with our hearts lifted high,
we offer you thanks and praise at all times
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Declaration of Grace / Absolution

The one who has corrupted this world
has already been condemned,
but everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord
will be saved.

Sisters and Brothers,
........your sins are forgiven.
................The first fruits of the Spirit are yours.

©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Commission & Benediction

Go out into the world,
and labour to bring forth new life.
Dream dreams, pursue visions
and speak of Godís goodness
in the words of those who would hear.

And may the God who breathed life into creation be your delight.
May Christ Jesus give hope to your dreaming,
and may the Holy Spirit, your advocate and supporter,
........set your hearts ablaze with a passion for peace.

We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
........In the name of Christ. Amen.

©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Paraphrases of the Scripture Lections
for the Day of Pentecost - Year B - Sunday 27 May 2012
Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary.
Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts (CCT)
P. O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

* Acts 2: 1-21

........On the Feast Day of Pentecost all the believers were together in one place. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, there was a sound like a raging cyclone - and nothing could be heard above it anywhere in the house. And then the Holy Spirit burst in among them like a bushfire, with sparks and fireballs leaping out to engulf every one there. With fire in their guts and the Holy Spirit unleashing their tongues, they began to speak of God in languages they had never learned.
........Now in Jerusalem at that time, there were faithful Jewish pilgrims from all over the world. The wild noise among the believers quickly drew a crowd. What they heard bewildered them because everyone, no matter where they were from, heard their native language being spoken by the believers. Almost unable to believe their ears, they asked:
ìDonít all these people come from Galilee? How come we can all hear them speaking our own native languages? Some of us are Parthians, some Medes, others Elamites. There are people visiting here from Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the Cyrenene occupied parts of Libya. There are immigrants from Rome, both ethnic Jews and converts. Some here are even Cretans and Arabs! But these Galileans are speaking all our languages and telling us about the extraordinary things God has done.î
........They were all in a spin, unable to make head nor tail of what was happening. They kept asking one another what was going on and what it could all mean. Others though, just sneered and said, ìTheyíve been on the turps. Theyíre just a bunch of drunks.î
........Peter stood up with the other eleven and addressed the crowd as loudly and clearly as he could:
ìMen and women of Jerusalem, locals and visitors, listen up and Iíll let you in on what this is all about. If you think that these people are drunk, you are wrong. Think about it - the pubs arenít even open this early in the morning. No, what is happening here was explained long ago in the words of the prophet Joel:
........ìThis is what I will do
................when time reaches its climax, God declares:
........I will pour out my Spirit on everyone.
........Your sons and your daughters
................shall speak as prophets.
........The young among you will see visions,
................and the old will dream dreams.
........I even have men and women among those
................whose rights no one cares about,
........and in those days
................I will pour out my Spirit upon them too;
........................and they shall proclaim my justice.
........I will perform miraculous signs in the sky above
................and awesome wonders on the earth below,
........................blood, and fire, and clouds of smoke.
........The sun will go black and the moon blood-red
................before the dawning
........................of the awesome and glorious day of the Lord.
........And everyone who cries out to the Lord
................shall be saved.î

©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

OR

* Ezekiel 37: 1-14

........The LORD took hold of me and the LORDís Spirit carried me off and put me down in the middle of Death Valley. I took a look around but there was nothing to see but bones - old bones baked dry in the sun - thousands and thousands of them. The LORD questioned me saying, ìEzekiel, mortal man, can these bones come back to life?î
........I replied, ìLord GOD, only you can answer such a question.î
........Then the LORD told me to preach boldly to the bones, saying:
ìAll you dry bones, listen to what the LORD is saying to you. Though you are long dead, I, the Lord, will put breath into you again, and you will live. Muscles, ligaments, organs, veins; all these I will give you, wrapped in healthy new skin. You will have whole new bodies and I will breathe life into you. Then you will know for sure that I am the LORD.î
........So I did what the LORD told me and preached to the bones. Even while I was in full flight, the noise of rattling bones began to echo through the valley. They were coming together, linking up, one bone to another. As I watched, muscles appeared and grew. Bodies filled out with new flesh, and fresh skin was wrapped around them. But they were still lifeless.
........Then the LORD told me to call to the winds, saying:
ìNorth Wind, South Wind, East Wind, West Wind, listen to what the LORD is telling you to do. Come from everywhere and blow the breathe life into these corpses, so that they can live again.î
........Again I spoke as the LORD had said, and even as I did, gusts of wind swirled among the bodies, resuscitating them before my very eyes. Rising to their feet like a finalsí crowd, the could easily have filled the biggest stadium.
........Then the LORD explained to me what it all meant:
ìEzekiel, mortal man, my people are just like old dry bones. They are always whinging that life has become one long drought and theyíve been left for dead with no reason to hope that the future might be any better. So preach boldly, Ezekiel, and tell them this:
ìAll you people, listen to what the LORD is promising: I am going to dig up your graves, and open your coffins. I will bring you back as my people to the promised land. When I do this for you, my people, when I restore life to your bodies, then you will know for sure that I am the LORD. My Spirit will be within you like the breath in your lungs, and so you shall live. I will once again plant your feet on your own patch of dirt. Then there will no longer be any doubt that I, the LORD, have spoken and that what I say goes.î

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

* Psalm 104: 24-34, 35b

O LORD, what a wildly fabulous world!
........Working hand in hand with wisdom
........you have made
........an earthful of wonderful creatures.

Just look at the deep wide sea,
........swarming with life beyond our imagining,
........from coral to crayfish, from mussels to marlin.
Ships plough the waves,
........while mythical monsters cavort in the depths.

Like seagulls at a picnic,
........every creature looks to you for food.
They gather around in eager expectation,
........and gorge themselves when you open your hand.

If you turned your back, theyíd be panic stricken;
........if you withdrew your Spirit
........they would have nothing to breathe,
........their bodies would quickly crumble.
But when you breathe your spirit into them,
........life sprouts up fresh and fragrant again
........and the earth itself is revived.

Glorious is all you do, LORD,
........may you be honoured forever.
........May everything created be a joy to the LORD.

One look from the LORD makes even the earth quiver;
........one touch and even the mountains erupt.

With every breath I will sing to the LORD;
........as long as there is life in me,
................I will give honour to my God in song.

Even my unspoken thoughts I offer to the LORD,
........for the LORD is a delight to me.

May wickness be wiped from the earth,
........may enemies of life no longer be found.
O bless the LORD, everything within me.
........Praise the LORD!

©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

* Romans 8: 22-27

........The time of deliverance is near. After a long pregnancy, the whole creation is now groaning and shuddering in the final stages of labour. And we are not just witnesses to this birth. We ourselves, having been impregnated by the Spirit, are labouring to bring the new life within us to fruition. For then, with our bodies set free, our longing to be Godís children will be fulfilled. This joyous expectancy ensures that our deliverance will come. If there was never to be anything more than our present reality, these longings within us would be in vain. But we are eager to see a promised new reality, and this hope sustains us.
........There will be times when our strength fails us and we will feel like just accommodating ourselves to the way things presently are, but the Spirit will always be there for us. Even when our prayer dries up and words fail us, the Spirit is there within us, keeping the communication lines open by turning our deepest achings and yearnings into prayers that pass wordlessly from heart to heart. And God, being of one mind with the Spirit, is able to hear the cries of our hearts because the Spirit offers them, along with the prayers of all Godís people, in a language that connects with the cries of Godís heart.

©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

* John 15: 26-27; 16: 4b-15

........On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus said to his disciples, ìI am going to send the Spirit to you from the Father. The Spirit will be your companion, your advocate and supporter, and will confirm for you the whole truth about me. You too are to speak up for the truth, because you have been with me ever since we started.
........ìUp until now I have always been with you, so there was no need to explain these things, but now I am going back to the One who sent me. None of you have even asked me where I am going. Instead you are just sitting there getting more and more down in the dumps with each thing I say. All the same, Iíll say it again: the truth is that you will be better off after Iíve gone. You see, the Spirit canít come to be with you until I leave. Once Iím gone though, I will send the Spirit to you.
........ìThe Spirit will come and show everyone just how wrong the world has been in its opinions about sin and righteousness and judgment. As the Spirit will show, people have the wrong idea about sin because they donít trust my ways. They have the wrong idea about righteousness because they donít know that it only comes from the Father. It wonít be any easier to see now that Iím going back to its source. They have the wrong idea about judgment because they think itís all in the future, when in reality, sentence has already been passed on the one who steered this world into its godless ways.
........ìThere is a whole lot more I would love to say to you, but it would all be too much for you at the moment. The Spirit will come, full of truth, and will lead you by the hand into the pathways of truth. The Spirit does not speak independently, but on my behalf. Through the Spirit, I will let you know what is going to happen and what it all means. I will be honoured by everything the Spirit says, because they are my words delivered to you. All that the Father has is mine. So now you understand why I have been saying that the message the Spirit will deliver to you is actually coming from me.î

©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net