The Bible is full of greetings, and our worship leader greets us in God’s name.
Jude 1-2
To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance!
We begin our worship with a silent meditation on our Psalm of the Day during the Prelude. Use this time to focus your hearts and minds on God as he speaks to us through his Word.
Psalm 104:25-36
25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.
26 There the ships go to and fro,
and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.
27 All creatures look to you
to give them their food at the proper time.
28 When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
29 When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works—
32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the Lord.
35 But may sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.
Praise the Lord, my soul.
Praise the Lord.
Pieces in D Major Nrs. 1 and 5 from “The Organiste”
César Franck (1822 – 1890)
Ruth Pfister, organ
Kommt, Seelen, dieser Tag (BWV 479)
(“Come, Let us all this Day”)
Bach-Schemelli
Deborah Fogal, Soprano
Bettina Schneebeli, Alto
Zachary Fogal, Tenor
Kai Bischoff, Bass
Come, souls, this day must be sung of in holiness,
speak out God’s words with newly awakened tongues,
this day the good spirit has outfitted many heroes.
Pray that he may greet the hearts here, too.
Whom God’s spirit inspires, whom God’s word stirs,
and whoever carries the firstfruits by his grace,
join with us and praise God’s faithfulness,
that is present at this feast and all mornings new
For Pentecost, our call to worship is 2 Corinthians 3:17-18, in 6 languages.
From Psalm 104:25-35
Now the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Having called one another to God’s praise, we turn to God and ask for his presence and power.
From Psalm 104:25-35
With our Song of Praise, we begin our worship by exalting God for who he is and what he has done.
Come, O Spirit!
Text and Music by Isaac Wardell
Recording: Vanessa Bischoff, cello; Ellie and Andy Stager
(Musical Notation [PDF])
Come, oh Spirit, comfort true
Help us by your pleading
Come and ev’ry heart renew
Breath of God proceeding
You alone to God can win us
Spirit now work good within us
All our knowledge, all our sight
Lies in darkness shrouded.
All our labors wrought in strife
Hath our judgment clouded.
Oh consume our wrong desires
Holy Ghost our souls inspire.
Come, our conscience to relieve
From each sin remembered.
Come, our Savior’s blood to plead;
Naked we surrender.
Sin hath left a wound revealing;
Spirit help us with your healing.
All our riches, all our crowns
Cast we now before thee.
Scales removeth, chains unbound,
Boldly we implore thee:
As you knit us once together,
Fasten us to you forever.