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May 31, 2020
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(The service has been pre-recorded.)
Are We Standing for Jesus?
Order of Worship
Pentecost Sunday
May 31, 2020

Welcome and Sharing of Announcements

Call to Worship 
(Nancy Burns)
Liturgist: When the wind rushes into the room, 
People: Stand up, stand up for Jesus!
Liturgist: When your hearts are set on fire but not consumed,
People: Stand up, stand up for Jesus!
Liturgist: When love is spoken and understood in every language,
People: Stand up, stand up for Jesus!
Liturgist: Stand up, stand up like Peter and the Eleven did so long ago
For the sake of the children and the elderly…
For the sake of the last and the least amongst us…
For the sake of all who call upon God’s saving name in an age of wonders, signs, and darkness… The Spirit of Truth is still speaking,
People: Stand up, stand up for Jesus!
(by Galen Schad)

Opening Prayer
( Nancy Burns )
Merciful God, we stand in the midst of sickness, death, and grief; we see people without jobs, standing in mile-long food lines; we witness the unjust distribution of resources and racial discrimination, we watch health care providers exhausted and overwhelmed farmers with no market for their crops we wonder ... have they, have we, been abandoned?
Jesus promised ... that we would not be orphaned; that you would send your Spirit; that, because he lives, we shall live; that you are not gone from us; that we have not been deserted; that you abide with us, and in us. O God our Help, hear our prayer — to love you to keep your great commandment to love others to know you revealed through our loving acts to see you — here and now with us and in us, forever. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(by Rev. Dr. Jacquelyn Brennan)

Opening Hymn - “Breath on Me, Breath of God” - UMH #420

Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
 
Prayer Response - “Spirit of the Living God" - UMH #393
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.

New Membership Vow: Doug Keele, Michelle Murata
How God has led me to UMCW

Scripture Reading - Acts 2:1-21
(Doug Keele)

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.   Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.   All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues [ as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?   Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome   (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

Peter Addresses the Crowd
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

‘In the last days, God says,
  I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
  your young men will see visions,
  your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
  I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
  and they will prophesy.
                         I will show wonders in the heavens above
  and signs on the earth below,
  blood and fire and billows of smoke.
                        The sun will be turned to darkness
  and the moon to blood
  before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
                        And everyone who calls
  on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society®
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Liturgist: The word of God for the people of God.
People: Thanks be to God.

Message - " Are We Standing for Jesus?" - Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar

Message in Music
(Nancy Burns, soloist)
Surely the Presence of the Lord ” - by Lanny Wolfe

Offertory Prayer 
Thank you, Holy Spirit, for delighting in creation and inspiring us with your gifts. As we share these gifts of joy and love with Christ’s holy church, bless these gifts with your presence, that they may bring your hope and wisdom to God’s beautiful, created world. Amen.

Closing Hymn - " Spirit Song " - UMH #347

Benediction
(Rev. Megan Stowe)
May God give you grace to never sell yourself short! Grace to risk something big for something good! Grace to remember that the world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but Love! The Blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be with us now and remain with us this day and always. Amen.
(by William Sloan Coffin)
Our Openness Statement
“The United Methodist Church of Westford is an open and welcoming community of Christian Faith. Without any exceptions, we welcome anyone who seeks to love and to serve God.”
Please click here for “A Statement of Our Openness”.