Pentecost Call to Worship and Prayer

This Sunday is Pentecost and over the past month I've been preaching  a series entitled Holy Spirit Come, which will culminate this Sunday. AS a call to worship I will be using some of the bible passages that we have used in our series working through Jesus teaching on the Holy Spirit in John's gospel. It is trying to draw people into worship for the day focusing on what we have been looking at and a journey through the scriptures.

Holy Spirit Come

                 God says I will pour out my spirit on all People

Holy Spirit Come

              "how much more will the Father Give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him"

Holy Spirit Come

              " and I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate and he will help you and be with you forever."

Holy Spirit Come

             "   But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit Comes on you;
                                               and you will be my witnesses
                                                             in Jerusalem,
                                                  and in all Judea and Samaria,
                                                 and to the ends of the earth"

I will also be using James K Baxter's 'Holy Spirit Song" as a prayer in the service, this is a very new Zealand home-grown resource.

Lord, Holy Spirit,

You blow like the wind in a thousand paddocks,

Inside and outside the fences,

You blow where you wish to blow.

 

Lord, Holy Spirit,

You are the sun who shines on the little plant,

You warm him gently, you give him life,

You raise him up to become a tree with many leaves.

 

Lord, Holy Spirit,

You are the mother eagle with her young,

Holding them in peace under your feathers.

On the highest mountain you have built your nest,

Above the valley, above the storms of the world,

Where no hunter ever comes.

 

Lord, Holy Spirit,

You are the bright cloud in whom we hide,

In whom we know already that the battle has been won.

You bring us to our Brother Jesus

To rest our heads upon his shoulder.

 

Lord, Holy Spirit,

You are the kind fire who does not cease to burn,

Consuming us with flames of love and peace,

Driving us out like sparks to set the world on fire.

 

Lord, Holy Spirit,

In the love of friends you are building a new house,

Heaven is with us when you are with us.

You are singing your songs in the hearts of the poor

Guide us, wound us, heal us. Bring us to the Father

 

– James K. Baxter, ‘Song to the Holy Spirit’, in Collected Poems (ed. John Edward Weir;

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979), 572.