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The session shall make provision for the regular (a) preaching of the Word, (b) celebration of the sacraments, (c) corporate prayer and (d) offering of praise to God in song. In a particular church, the session is to provide for worship and shall encourage the people to participate fully and regularly in it. The Presbyterian Directory for Worship helps to outline responsibilities for worship planning and policy-making: He has taught preaching in seminary and conference settings for more than 20 years.Home › Worship › Frequently asked questions › Planning and leadership Planning and leadership Who is responsible for planning worship? His PhD is from University of Edinburgh in preaching and media. Derek Weber, Director of Preaching Ministries, served churches in Indiana and Arkansas and the British Methodist Church. Tell what happened when the Spirit was poured out. Pentecost is a unifying time, regardless of the environment in which we live. Then we can find resonance, your story with my story, your experience of the Spirit with mine. Find ways to speak a variety of names, to describe a variety of settings, to relate a variety of experiences. This gift, the Spirit poured out, is for the whole body, not just for a few.įind ways to let the people tell their many and various stories. But every time someone speaks for the church, remind people that all are included. So, what if we can’t be gathered? What if we have to keep our distance? The Spirit can still be corporate. It was because they were gathered together that this happened. Let the Spirit be poured out on all y’all. Pentecost worship is about joy, and the invitation is to let the Spirit be poured out on you. Pentecost is an invitation to take flight, to cast off the bounds of earth and to soar on the winds of hope and promise, to bring together a broken world, to connect with others who seek to fly into a kin-dom way of living. As the Spirit is poured out, the body of Christ moves and shifts and brings an amazing beauty to the world around us. You’ve seen those videos of a murmuration of starlings flying together, shapes of feathered bodies flying in formations that shift and change in the air. We can capture the kites flying in the air, the birds soaring on the wing. We don’t have to stick to the fire and the wind. Remember, even Luke struggled for metaphors to describe this event.
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How will you pour out that Spirit online? How will you get through the mask and into the lungs of the worshipers still physically distant from one another today? Maybe it is images of children laughing and running through a sprinkler. So, how do you capture that moment, that doused-with-a-hose moment, that shock of cold that causes you to catch your breath at the wonder and the glory of it? That’s what we are after on Pentecost Sunday-a shock, a blast of Spirit that thaws the bones and loosens the tongue.
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This is worship that refreshes, that transforms, that makes new. Yeah, from a hose, with a thumb pressed against the opening so it shoots across the yard and soaks the giggling, screeching children who are running with glee from the icy spray but basking in the relief from the scorching heat of the day. This is a story of the Spirit poured out-like water from a pitcher or from a hose. This is a story of worship gone awry, at least from a human perspective. But they seem so much less than what might be. And any and all of those things just might happen and are good outcomes for our investment of an hour of our time. We’ve come to fix a problem, or to tweak a lifestyle, or to get a pat on the back or a push in the backside to keep us moving on the right track. And so, we have learned to come with everything on our minds but the possibility that we just might encounter God one Sunday morning. I say “understandably” because we never really see much happen in our worship experiences week by week. But our expectations are understandably low. Just a warm feeling that you did a good thing before getting back to the really important things in your day or your life. Not much has happened, same issues, same stories. It’s like a soap opera you stop watching for a while and then come back only to find the characters in about the same place they were when you left. And if people must miss, no big deal they can catch it the next time around. It’s another opportunity to give people a little bit of encouragement to face whatever is in store for them in the week to come. Another Sunday, hymns and prayers, people in the pews, maybe an attempt to bring a smile or to boost people’s spirits. What are you looking for this Pentecost Sunday? I know, not much really.