Call to Worship

Every week, our worship begins with the word of God that calls us to worship. Hear this word of invitation from Jesus in John 7.

On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

We are a people who come thirsty for God. In worship, God invites us to drink. And then, having received Living Water to quench our thirst, Jesus says that out of our hearts will flow Living Water for the life of the world. The Spirit overflows. Come, let us worship our God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—who is the fount of every blessing.

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God’s Greeting

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 13:14
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen.

Prayer of Invocation

Spirit of the living God, visit us again on this day of Pentecost.
Come, Holy Spirit.
Like a rushing wind that sweeps away all barriers,
come, Holy Spirit.
Like tongues of fire that set our hearts aflame,
come, Holy Spirit.
With speech that unites the Babel of our tongues,
come, Holy Spirit.
With love that overlaps the boundaries of race and nation,
come, Holy Spirit.
With holiness that washes sinful desires and cripples Satan’s snares,
come, Holy Spirit.
With power from above to make our weakness strong,
come, Holy Spirit.
With power from above to make us one,
come, Holy Spirit.
With power from above to make us sing,
come, Holy Spirit. Amen.

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God’s Baptismal Faithfulness: A Service of Celebration

At our in-person service this morning, we are celebrating the sacrament of baptism for Beatrice Joy Petroelje, Kabamba Jim Roger, Mwamini Maneno, Esperance Maneno, Christine Maneno, Immaculee Maneno, and Thomas Gentil. In addition to baptism, we will celebrate various “faith milestones” (2nd Grade Bibles, Graduating Seniors’ Blankets, and a Marriage Blessing) that remind us of God’s love and covenant faithfulness throughout our lives. This portion of the service will be recorded and shared with the congregation via email and our private Facebook group early this week.

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Prayer for Illumination

Empowering God,
we pray that you will send your Holy Spirit
to move us to understanding;
to help us to believe the gospel;
to give us strength and wisdom to live by it.
Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Scripture Reading

The Word of the Lord from Ezekiel 37:1-14

37 The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath[a] to enter you, and you shall live. 6 I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath[b] in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath:[c] Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath,[d] and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” 10 I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

11 Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. 14 I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”

The Word of the Lord from Acts 2:1-4

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 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. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God. 

Sermon

Can These Bones Live?

Song

We will extol you, God and King, and bless your holy name.
Day after day we’ll sing your praise, forever and forever. 

One generation will call to the next:
“Our God is good, and his hand is strong!”
All of the world sings his marvelous acts,
and our voice will join with theirs in the song. 

Great is the Lord! In all his ways he’s greatly to be praised.
Were we to search for endless days, his greatness none could fathom. 

Refrain 

We contemplate the splendor of the world your hand has made.
Far greater still the majesty we see in the Creator! 

Refrain 

Now may your name be sung in ev-ery tongue, in every place.
Singing the fame of your great love in every generation. 

Refrain 

Words and Music (SCARECROW 8.7.8.7 refrain 10.9.10.10): Greg Scheer © 2006 Faith Alive Christian Resources
All rights reserved, OneLicense.net 734287-A

Prayers of the People

Our Prayers of the People this morning comes from Ben Shank, an elder in our congregation.

Father God, we come to you together as a church on a day that is in a sense our birthday, the day you poured out your Spirit on all flesh and the church was born.  We bring to you our joys and sorrows as beloved children.

We praise you for the outpouring of grace in the waters of baptism.  Thank you that you cleanse and renew these your children through your grace alone.  Bless and strengthen them daily with the gift of your Holy Spirit; unfold to them the riches of your love, deepening their faith, keeping them from the power of evil and enabling them to live holy and blameless lives until your kingdom comes.  We lift these children up to you, O Lord.

Look with kindness upon Roger and Nyota, Benj and Amy.  Let them ever rejoice in the gift you have given them.  Grant them the continuing presence of your Holy Spirit that they may bring up these children to know you, to love you, and to serve you.  We lift these parents up to you, O Lord.

On this day of Pentecost, we call to earth the next chapter of Your Kingdom Come.  We pray that the Holy Spirit might act through us in visible, distinctive ways, an unexpected marker to those watching the church that God is among us.  With holy expectation we lift up your coming kingdom, O Lord.

The story of Pentecost quickly becomes the story of a people changed by the outpouring of your Spirit.  To those who believed, the love of God became visible as changed lives.  Yes, personal conduct changed, but the Spirit poured out in acts of generosity and new modes of living so that everything was changed.  We pray for this church that the Spirit of Christ will be ever more visible in ways personal and communal, bearing good fruit of peace and love, a marker to those in the church that God is among us.  We lift up your church, the fruit of your labor, to you, O Lord.

Today we acknowledge milestones in the life of the church, markers along a path of faith so slow and ordinary that we might forget that this is where your eternal treasure grows.  We pray for our second graders that the wellspring of life within us will be apparent to watching eyes and listening ears.  May they grow in faith that the Source of living water might dwell also in them.  We lift up our graduating seniors.  As they go forth into the world as you direct each, nourish and guard the spring of life within them.  May they overflow with goodness, watered by roots that reach beyond petty circumstance. We lift up those who carry the eternal Truth through times of transition to you, O Lord.

Speaking of transition, we rejoice at the lifting of COVID-related restrictions around us.  Like a people coming out of hiding, we want to gather and sing together.  Grant us wisdom and love for all that we might gather and sing well.  May we be worthy to be called your people in celebration and in hardship.  Allow us the gleeful joy of pleasant gatherings, large and small, that are appropriate responses to this gift of renewed community.  We lift our church and our community up to you, O Lord.

We need not look far to see the valley of dry bones, the places where the life-giving water of your Spirit is not evident and has not been evident in recent memory.  We acknowledge, each in our own way, places of frustration, fear, anger, depression that have become a way of life.  We confess that we have no power to say anything to these bones.  Can these bones live?  Only You know.  Yet we long to hear you say “Child of God, prophesy over these bones.”  For the dry and weary places in our hearts, we pray for the spring of life.  Come Holy Spirit!  We lift these things up to you, O Lord. Amen.

Offering

In addition to our various funds (General, Building, Mission, Benevolence, Christian Education), online giving is also now available for today’s special offerings (Compassionate Heart & GVSU Student Ministries) through the Give button below.

Blessing

“As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ Now he said this about the Spirit.”

The Spirit is in you, with you, and for you, so that the Spirit can work through you.
The Spirit makes dry bones live.

As you walk the road that God has marked out ahead of you,
may the Holy Spirit fall upon you, surround you, and support you;
may the Holy Spirit transform you, empower you, and equip you;
may the Holy Spirit encourage, comfort, and strengthen you
to serve and worship our triune God both now and forever. Amen.

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