Croeso! Bore da! Welcome to you all on this Pentecost Sunday.
Please do make yourself known to me if you are popping in or if I can help in any way.
+Yn enw'r Tad, a'r Mab, a'r Ysbryd Glan. Amen
+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN
Our opening Hymn is: Come down O Love divine
Heavenly Father, all hearts are open to you.
No secrets are hidden from you.
Purify us with the fire of your Holy Spirit
that we may love and worship you faithfully,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy.
Christ, have mercy. Christ have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. Lord have mercy.
Heavenly Father,
we have sinned in thought, word and deed,
and have failed to do
what we ought to have done.
We are sorry and truly repent.
For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ
who died for us, forgive us all that is past,
and lead us in his way
to walk as children of light. AMEN
May God our Father,
who by the Lord Jesus Christ
has reconciled the world to himself
and forgives the sins of all who truly repent,
pardon and deliver us from all our sins,
and grant us the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. AMEN
The Gloria
The Collect for Pentecost
God,
who at this time 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 judgement in all things and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort;
through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Word of God
Acts 2. 1-21
When the day of Pentecost had come, they 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. 24-34, 35b
O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
These all look to you to give them their food in due season; when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.
May the glory of the Lord endure for ever; may the Lord rejoice in his works - who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke. I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord!
The Gospel of Christ according to St John
Glory to you. O Lord.
John 15. 26-27; 16. 4b-15
When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.
‘I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
This is the Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you, O Christ.
Homily
Have you given thought to how the Apostles, the friends of Jesus, might have felt after his Ascension? There they were, waiting, as their Lord and Master had asked them to do. Waiting and waiting - how the time must have hung heavy. They might have questioned, did he really mean to wait here in Jerusalem? They knew they were waiting for the coming of the Spirit and may well have pondered what would that be like, how would they have coped, couldn’t they just get on with it, etc. I bet Peter had something to say about things. They knew of the power of God’s spirit but not how it would affect them. They may well have been fearful, excited, humbled, nervous, about the future and held all manner of emotions.
There is no doubt they all loved the Lord and had been through much with him, but equally had got things wrong. They had not realised that Judas would betray the Lord, they got the Resurrection a bit mixed up and Thomas had doubted or rather needed more information, they had realised that Jesus wasn’t a ghost, he spoke, shared food, etc with them but also seemed to come and go. They had been afraid. And then the Ascension - they saw him go and they were told to wait and they went to the city and praised him in worship in the temple. Was it because they felt safest at the Temple? Was it that as they waited for the Spirit it helped to focus minds and energy? Or was it that they were a bit confused and unsure how and what would happen to them?
And then it happened and there was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as we heard in our reading from Acts a description of what appeared to happen. Last Sunday we discovered Our Lord praying desperately that his friends would stay in unity, together until they received the Holy Spirit, where they would be prepared to go and carry out his mission and form the Church, bring the knowledge of the saving love of God to all they met and wherever they were.
So today, the anniversary of the birth of the Church and look where it has gone and how many people have chosen to know for themselves God’s love in Christ. Jesus has ensured that the disciples knew the nature of the church in the world and how it is to be cared for and nurtured, so that the church itself can bear fruit in the world. The church needs to be bound together with love and that they all must face hostility and through the Holy Spirit will be Jesus’ witnesses.
We too as the Church also need to witness in the world, strengthened and enabled through the enabling power of the same Holy Spirit and not hide behind closed doors, stone pillars or rest on our laurels. We need to acknowledge that we are bound together too with love that we need to care and nurture people in faith and we too might well face hostilities. The power of the same Spirit will enable us if we are prepared and if we too like the disciples, listen and ready ourselves.
Prayers of Intercession and Lord's Prayer
Loving God we ask for the gift of your Holy Spirit to help us pray as we ought.
Come Holy Spirit, direct the rulers of the world. Fill our leaders with talents and discernment to seek the common good and to care for those facing neglect, injustice and hostility..
Inspire our artists and musicians, writers and craftspeople.
Spirit of God, show us all how to bring peace and justice and unity to the nations.
Lord, Your Spirit is with us Hear our prayer
Holy Spirit, fill our homes, our churches our land.
Help us as part of your universal church to reach out to others with the good news of Christ, to bring hope to those in distress.
May we as part of your church be spilled with your Holy Spirit as we love care and serve you.
Lord, Your Spirit is with us Hear our prayer
Holy Spirit, we come to you for those are suffering this day - for those who are ill, feeling hopeless and despondent. May they have your healing, guidance and strength, We pray for all who are weak, who are ill, who cannot cope on their own, those known to us in particular need or trouble who ask for our prayers - Spirit of God, may they know your hope and comfort, your power and assurance.
Lord, Your Spirit is with us
Hear our prayer
Holy Spirit we pray for those who have died, those whose lives are darkened by sorrow and mourning.
Jesus Christ is the light of the world, a light which no darkness can quench.
We commend to your everlasting love those who have died whether recently or as we remember on their anniversaries. May they rest in peace and rise in glory.
You turn our darkness into light; in your light shall we see light.
Holy Spirit, may we look for and know your presence in our daily lives in our times of confusion and uncertainty, in our worship in our recreation. Create new life in your people, and renew and refresh all of us, as we turn in obedience and faith to You.
Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
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.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
Our closing hymn is hymn: Filled with the Spirit's power
The Lord be with you
And also with you.
The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and ever more. AMEN
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Alleluia! Alleluia!
Ewch mewn tangnefedd i garu a gwasanaethu'r Arglwydd. Alleluia! Alleluia!
If you would like to donate £5 to the overall work of the 12 churches in the parish, please carefully text: GIVE5 to 70970. Thank you, diolch yn fawr.
Bishop June is pleased to announce that the Reverend Emma Street, currently Assistant Curate in the Parishes of the Vale of Neath and the Dulais Valley, has been appointed as Assistant Curate in the Glamorgan Heritage Coast Ministry Area. Emma will live in the Vicarage in St Brides Major and it is expected that she will move to our Ministry Area during the school holidays, and be licensed some time in August or early September.