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Worship
Service for May 22, 2022
Prelude
Announcements:
Call to Worship
L: God holds out to us the promise of a new
life.
P: Life as unpredictable, as unrehearsed, as
explosive as life at the very beginning.
L: God calls us to respond to this give with
creativity, with joy, and with courage.
P: In worship, we can begin to accept this
gift of new life. Let us worship God
together.
Opening Hymn – In Christ There Is No East or
West Hymn #439/428
Prayer of Confession
Keeper of
heaven and earth, guardian of our coming and going forth, of our times of
tender reflection and our moments of turmoil.
Our life is fragile. We violate
each other in personal relationships, as nations, as inept keepers of life’s
beauty. Sharpen our sensitivities. Stir in us preference for listening over
speaking, for tenderness over aggression, for solidarity and community over
alienation. Deepen for us the meaning of
the resurrection, that we not only speak words of transformation but embody
those words in our lives. (Silent
prayers are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: Your past sins are forgiven, your future
will be fruitful and Christ’s words will become your personal benediction:
“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your
joy may be full.
P: Thanks be to God! Amen.
Gloria Patri
Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’
Creed
I believe in God the Father
Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the
third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on
the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge
the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost,
the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the
resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN
Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s
Prayer
Almighty and eternal
God, you have revealed yourself to us through the power of the Holy
Spirit. That Spirit reaches into the
depths of our souls to teach us right from wrong, good from evil. Your Spirit speaks to our spirits and makes
us yearn to worship You and follow after Your call to us. Hold us firm in faith, so that we may know
You in all your ways. Enlighten us to
Your truth, so we may witness to Your eternal glory like Your first apostles
began to do on the day of Pentecost.
Keep us in Your holiness, so that we may literally glow with Your love.
Continue to work Your
powers of peace in the world. Where
there is injury, let us sow pardon and truly embody the gift of forgiveness,
love, compassion and mercy to others as You have been to us.
We pray for those who
are struggling this day for multitude of reasons. We pray for….
Hear also the silent
prayers of our hearts today.
Grant us, O Lord, the
wisdom to take our sufferings and turn them into hope. We pray together the prayer your Son taught
us, saying…
Our Father who art in
heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy
kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. AMEN.
Hymn – Glorious
Things of Thee Are Spoken Hymn #446/700
Scripture Reading(s):
First Scripture Reading – Psalm 67
Second Scripture Reading – John
14:22-31
Sermon “The
Holy Spirit as Tour Guide”
This
passage from the lectionary reading speaks about Jesus leaving the Holy Spirit
with the disciples so that that they will be reminded of all that Jesus said to
them. The lectionary passage from Revelation
21:10,22-22:5) is also relevant to today’s sermon, so I’ll read it, as well.
“And in the spirit he carried me
away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming
down out of heaven from God. I saw no
temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to
shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the
kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day—and there
will be no night there. People will
bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone
who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the
Lamb’s book of life. Then the angel
showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the
throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of
life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the
leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be
in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name
will be on their foreheads. And there
will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will
be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”
Together, these two passages from
John and Revelation reminded me of a tour guide and how the Holy Spirit acts
like one. Partly, I must admit, because
I just came home from being in an unfamiliar country with lots of tour guides
to show the way around and anticipating doing the same again soon. I think, there are a great number of
parallels. Let me explain.
First,
a tour guide informs you about where to go and where not to go. I remember a cruise we took a number of years
ago to the Caribbean. When we arrived in
Ocho Rios, Jamaica we were reminded that at the port there was a great deal of
shopping. Along the pier were two
tourist shopping malls, one on the left and one on the right. The public beach was also right there and any
who wanted to go ashore and enjoy these areas were welcome to do so. There were also a number of planned
itineraries where you’d get in a bus and go off to tour the island or visit the
Reggae Museum, or climb Dunn’s River Falls, or go Horseback Riding on the Beach
– which is the one we decided to do. But
the cruise director or tour guide on our ship warned us that there were also a
number of scooter rental places at the pier where you could rent a scooter and
go off on your own. He suggested that we
not do this, as
The
Holy Spirit does the same thing. As you
grow in the Spirit and become more and more mature in your faith, listening for
the voice of God, the Holy Spirit warns you if you are going astray. The Holy Spirit convicts you of wrongs you
have done. The Holy Spirit gently guides
you in the way of truth and guides you away from what may harm you.
A
tour guide also intercedes on your behalf.
In Romans chapter 8:26 it says, “for we do not know how to pray as we
ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” The Holy Spirit can speak the language, even
if we can’t. Therefore, it is a good
idea to let the guide go ahead of you and make the proper arrangements with the
powers-that-be so no misunderstandings occur.
For example, try explaining something that doesn’t work to someone who
doesn’t speak your language. The guide
can translate for you so that you receive proper and prompt assistance.
I got along pretty well when I was
in Spain and Portugal, but I remember going to France a number of years
ago. I speak absolutely no French. At the time, I basically knew how to count up
to three in French and I knew that Nord is North and Sud in South, but I didn’t
know east or west, so I was directionally challenged, for sure. And I knew that Merci, is Thank You and that
Pardon means Excuse Me. Again, at the
time, that was nearly the complete extent of my French knowledge. One evening we had difficulty getting the key
to work the lock to our hotel room. I
tried to explain it to the desk clerk, but she looked baffled at my poor
attempts at sign language or hand motions or even made-up French words that I
tried to use to explain the situation.
Our tour guide from the day was standing at the doorway and noticed my
fumbling attempts at communicating and she spoke to the concierge. The matter was cleared up immediately and we
were granted access to our room within minutes.
The Holy Spirit does the same, as a mediator between us and God.
A tour guide will also fetch or
retrieve you if you are late for the bus.
On one of the few group tours I took in Portugal, the guide took the
time to learn each person’s name and was constantly checking in during our free
roaming periods to make sure everyone was accounted for and at the end of the
day, knew that Sara and Bill had not arrived back at our pick up point yet. He left in search of them and found them
after a few minutes as they had forgotten where the rendezvous point was.
A guide is like a parent keeping an
eye on the “children” and recovering the lost.
The Holy Spirit performs essentially the same task. We adore God for sending us this great gift
of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, when we
stray from the path, the guide brings us back.
On another trip to Mexico, we were
standing at the Mayan ruins of Tulum.
The tour guide was explaining some of the significance of the buildings,
the culture of the Mayans and their mathematics which were amazingly
accurate. Growing bored with the
presentation or anxious to see some of the buildings up close and personal,
some of the people on the tour began to wonder a bit off the path. Out of the corner of his eye, the tour guide
saw where one of the wanderers was standing and said, “Sir, just a warning, you
may want to watch where you stand.
Everyone, look down at this young man’s feet and notice what he is
standing on.” We all looked. As the man moved we all noticed that he had
been standing on a rather small ant hill.
The guide told us that we should be careful of wandering off the paths
and standing in certain places because those were fire ant hills. And he said, “Fire ants bite…rather well.”
And finally the tour guide keeps us
going, even when we are worn out and tired.
Again, I was on Europe tour in France about 30 years ago. It was our last tour day. It had been an exhausting trip and the tour
guide seemed to recognize the glazed look that came over our eyes as we
approached yet another chateau and the tour guide said, “This tour is an ABC
tour: Another bloody chateau!” We all
chuckled and were able to get out of the bus and see one more bloody
chateau. The same is true of our
constant companion, the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. When we are down and tired, when we feel
alone or just can’t go on another minute the Holy Spirit gives us a boost and
reanimates our souls. What energizes us
is the wind/breath/Spirit of God. And we
are no longer exhausted from our day’s adventure. We have a tour guide through life who leads
us to God constantly and continuously. Thanks be to God. AMEN
Offertory
Doxology
Prayer of Dedication
With these
gifts we give of ourselves to the world you have created, to the love you have
poured out, and to the work of Your Holy Spirit alive in us today. Grant us your mercy that we may be
strengthened to walk in your ways, even as you walk with us. AMEN.
Closing Hymn – Be Thou My Vision Hymn #339/562
Benediction –
Grant us
peace, understanding, and wisdom, O Lord, and encouragement to follow in the
ways of Your Holy Spirit as our daily guide.
AMEN.
Postlude
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