Day of Pentecost: Whitsunday (Year A)

Prayers

Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

or this

O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Anglican Cycle of Prayer

• The Most. Rev. and Rt. Hon. Dame Sarah Mullally, DBE, the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury
• The Episcopal Church in the Philippines

Episcopal Church

• The Most Rev. Sean Rowe, XXVIII Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church
• Indigenous Ministries

Diocese of Olympia

• The Rt. Rev. Philip N. LaBelle, IX Bishop of the Diocese of Olympia
• St. Paul’s, Mount Vernon
• Resurrección, Mount Vernon

Church of the Redeemer

• The Rev. Theresa Newell, Priest in Charge
• The Wardens and Vestry serving this parish
• All members of this parish

Pray for the welfare of the world

• All victims of the conflicts in around the world
• All immigrants and migrants in the United States and around the world
• The victims of earthquake, flood, mass shootings, hurricanes, and wildfire
• Hopelink Kenmore Place
• Heron Haven Kenmore Senior Women’s Shelter
• Camp United We Stand
• All without adequate housing in our community
• All in the military and for their families
• Our enemies

Those in authority

• António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations
• Donald J. Trump, President of the United States
• Robert Ferguson, Governor of Washington
• Teri Gobin, Chair of the dxʷlilap [Tulalip] Tribes
• Cecile Hansen, Chair of the dxʷdəwʔabš [Duwamish] Tribe

Give thanks for the blessings of this life

• Those celebrating the anniversary of their birth
• Those celebrating the anniversary of their baptism
• Those celebrating the anniversary of their marriage
  

Lessons

Lessons appointed for use for this day from the Revised Common Lectionary (Episcopal version).

Acts 2:1-21 (NRSV)

When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples 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.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs– in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

`In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
   and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
   and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
   and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
   and signs on the earth below,
   blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
   and the moon to blood,
   before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ “

Psalm 104:25-35, 37 (BCP)

Quam magnificata sunt opera

O Lord, how manifold are your works! *
   in wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
Yonder is the great and wide sea with its living things too many to number, *
   creatures both small and great.
There move the ships, and there is that Leviathan, *
   which you have made for the sport of it.
All of them look to you *
   to give them their food in due season.
You give it to them; they gather it; *
   you open your hand, and they are filled with good things.
You hide your face, and they are terrified; *
   you take away their breath, and they die and return to their dust.
You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; *
   and so you renew the face of the earth.
May the glory of the Lord endure for ever; *
   may the Lord rejoice in all his works.
He looks at the earth and it trembles; *
   he touches the mountains and they smoke.
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; *
   I will praise my God while I have my being.
May these words of mine please him; *
   I will rejoice in the Lord.
Bless the Lord, O my soul. *
   Hallelujah!

1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 (NRSV)

No one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body– Jews or Greeks, slaves or free– and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

John 20:19-23 (NRSV)

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

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The Old Testament, New Testament and Gospel readings are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Psalm is from the Book of Common Prayer, 1979.