United Church - Westlock and Hazel Bluff

06/05/2026

June 7th 2026
Rejoice in Hope!

Worship Leaders
Rev. Jim Alexander
Int. Minister Danny Fontaine
Rev. Monica Rosborough
Rev. Kimberly Roy

Sacraments Elders
Dorothy Baker
Isabelle Doblanko
Eileen Lea
Steve Lyster
Prelude: “Hope Medleys” Sue Dupuis, Pianist

Call to Worship
Psalm 33 VU 760 (excerpts)
Shout to God for joy, you righteous!
Praise is fitting from loyal hearts.
Give thanks to God with the harp;
sing praise to God with the ten-stringed lute.
Sing a new song to God; play skillfully and with shouts of joy.
For the word of God is true;
God's every deed is faithful. R
You love what is right and just;
the earth is full of your constant love.
By your word the heavens were made,
the countless stars by the breath of your mouth.
Our heart rejoices in you, O God,
because our hope is in your holy name.
Let your steadfast love be upon us
as we put our trust in you. R1

Hymn: We Praise You, Creator VU 293

Land acknowledgement

Candle Lighting and Opening prayer
Westlock at Hazel Bluff
We light a candle to recognize our faith communities with Rejoicing and Hope
We sing of a Church seeking to continue the story of Jesus by embodying God's presence in the world
Our ancestors in faith bequest to us experiences of their faithful living;
upon their lives our lives are built.
Athabasca
We light a candle to recognize our faith communities with Rejoicing and Hope
We are each given particular gifts of the Spirit.
For the sake of the world,
God calls all followers of Jesus to Christian ministry,
To embody God's love in the world, the work of the church requires
the ministry and discipleship of all believers.
Barrhead/Whitecourt
We light a candle to recognize our faith communities with Rejoicing and Hope
We sing of God's good news lived out, a church with purpose:
faith nurtured and hearts comforted, gifts shared for the good of all, resistance to the forces that exploit and marginalize,
fierce love in the face of violence, human dignity defended, members of a community held and inspired by God,
corrected and comforted,
instrument of the loving Spirit of Christ,
creation's mending.
We sing of God's mission.
First United Fort McMurray
We light this candle of Hope, for the Spirit in us to rise, and enliven our souls and our relationships. We are called together by Christ as a community of broken but hopeful believers. Hope helps us live faithful lives of deep spirituality, bold discipleship and daring justice. We share in our tender hopes for the coming year, and may its light illuminate our holy desire and passion for love within our congregations.
Jarvie
We light this candle of Rejoicing for the people we love, in the beauty we find and create, and in our traditions old and new. We proclaim by God’s grace that God raised Jesus from death, turning sorrow into joy, despair into hope.
All: Together we are united in rejoicing, and in hope:
One: Let us pray together:
Prayer: Oh God, help us to recognize that we are not alone, we live in your world. Help us to trust in you and in your spirit. Help us remember that as the United Church of Canada, we are a voice for change. Help us come together to practice deep spirituality, bold discipleship and daring justice. Not as isolated congregations but as a community of fellow travelers following your son Jesus together, strengthening, encouraging and supporting each other in Your name’s sake. Amen

Hymn: O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go VU 658

Prayer of Self-reflection and Confession
One: Come oh Holy one, show yourself to us
All: You are always here, always waiting
One: You came in Jesus made flesh
All: to reconcile and make new,
One: who works in us and others
All: by the Spirit.
One: help us come together to be Your church
All: to celebrate Your presence,
One: to live with respect in Creation,
All: to love and serve others,
One: to seek justice and resist evil,
All: and live in harmony with Your teachings. Amen

Words of Assurance
Listen! I have something to say! Our past is behind us. We are free to live new lives, be new people, to try again to be who God intends us to be. Rejoice! I say again, rejoice!
All: Thanks be to God!

Anthem: "For Everyone Born A Place at the Table" Combined Choir & Soloist, Shauna Zeldenrust TLUS 23

Time for the Young at Heart

Prayer of Illumination
Scripture is our song for the journey, the living word passed on from generation to generation to guide and inspire, that we might wrestle a holy revelation for our time and place.
The Spirit judges us critically when we abuse scripture by interpreting it narrow-mindedly, using it as a tool of oppression, exclusion, or hatred. God calls us to be doers of the word and not hearers only. Come let us open our hearts and minds to the reading of today’s scripture.

Scripture Reading
Romans 12:9-18
Your love must be sincere. Hate what is evil and cling to what is good. Love one another with the affection of sisters and brothers. Try to outdo one another in showing respect. "Don't grow slack, but be fervent in spirit: the One you serve is Christ. Rejoice in hope; be patient under trial; persevere in prayer. Look on the needs of God's holy people as your own; be generous in offering hospitality.
Bless your persecutors-bless and don't curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Have the same attitude toward everyone. Don't be condescending to those who aren't as well off as you; don't be conceited. Don't repay evil with evil. Be concerned with the highest ideal in the eyes of all people. Do all you can to be at peace with everyone.

Message
Delivered by Rev. Kimberly Roy

Hymn: Deep in Our Hearts MV 154

Invitation to Offering
God’s grace and generosity can appear when it is least expected and bring joy to those who have lost hope. Through your gifts of time, talent and tithes, you extend hope and healing to your communities and to the wider world. (Danny)
Hymn: Lord, Prepare Me to Be a Sanctuary MV 18

Prayer of Thanksgiving
Gracious and loving God, we offer our gifts and talents for your work in our communities of faith and in the broader world. May these many and diverse gifts surprise those who receive them with your love, compassion, hope and joy. Amen.

We Share the Bread and Wine
Invitation
One: God be with you.
All: And also with you.
Two: Lift up your hearts.
All: We lift our hearts in prayer.
Three: Let us give thanks to God.
All: It is good to give God thanks and praise.
Four: Let us exchange signs of peace with each other…

Passing the peace

Hymn: Bread of Life, Feed My Soul MV 194

One: Let us join together in our prayer of great thanksgiving: God is Holy Mystery,
All: beyond complete knowledge, above perfect description.
Two: Yet, in love, the one eternal God seeks relationship.
All: So God creates the universe
Three: and with it the possibility of being and relating.
All: God tends the universe,
Four: mending the broken and reconciling the estranged.
All: God enlivens the universe,
One: guiding all things toward harmony with their Source.
All: Grateful for God’s loving action, We cannot keep from singing.
Two: We find God made known in Jesus, a Jew, born to a woman in poverty in a time of social upheaval and political oppression. He knew human joy and sorrow. So filled with the Holy Spirit was he that in him people experienced the presence of God among them.
All: We sing praise to God incarnate.
Three: Jesus announced the coming of God’s reign— a commonwealth not of domination but of peace, justice, and reconciliation.
All: He healed the sick and fed the hungry.
Four: He forgave sins and freed those held captive by all manner of demonic powers. He crossed barriers of race, class, culture, and gender. He preached and practised unconditional love—
All: love of God, love of neighbour, love of friend, love of enemy,
One: and he commanded his followers to love one another as he had loved them. Because his witness to love was threatening, those exercising power sought to silence Jesus. He suffered abandonment and betrayal, state-sanctioned torture and ex*****on. He was crucified. But death was not the last word. God raised Jesus from death, turning sorrow into joy, despair into hope.
All: We sing of Jesus raised from the dead. We sing hallelujah!
Two: By becoming flesh in Jesus, God makes all things new. In Jesus’ life, teaching, and self-offering, God empowers us to live in love. In Jesus’ crucifixion, God bears the sin, grief, and suffering of the world. In Jesus’ resurrection, God overcomes death.
All: Nothing separates us from the love of God.
Three: In holy communion the ordinary things of life-, bread, wine- point beyond themselves to God and God’s love, teaching us to be alert to the sacred in the midst of life. In the communion meal, wine poured out and bread broken, we remember Jesus,
All: and we taste the mystery of God’s great love for us.
Four: In the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take eat; this is my body, given for you. Bread and Wine
All: Do this for the remembrance of me.
One: Again, after supper he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.
All: Do this for the remembrance of me.
Two: Send your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these gifts, that all who eat and drink at this table may be one body, one holy people, a living sacrifice in Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Three: Through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory is yours, God most holy, now and forever.
Four: In that spirit of Christian unity, let us join together in saying the prayer that Jesus taught us:
One: Carrying a vision of creation healed and restored, we welcome all in the name of Christ.
Two: Invited to the table where none shall go hungry,
Three: we gather as Christ’s guests and friends.
Four: Come, the feast is ready!
We will be receiving Communion by intinction. The bread is gluten-free. Words for the sharing of the Bread and Cup can be “The Bread of Life. The Cup of Blessing.” An appropriate response is “Amen” or “Thanks be to God.” All are welcome to the table of Jesus Christ in the United Church of Canada.

Anthem: "I am Sending You Light" Combined Choir & Soloists, Danny Fontaine & Glenn Robinson TLUS 99

Prayer after communion
One: In Holy Communion we are commissioned to feed as we have been fed, forgive as we have been forgiven, love as we have been loved.
Two: We taste the mystery of God’s great love for us,
All: and are renewed in faith and hope.
Three: Creating and seeking relationship, in awe and trust,
Four: we witness to Holy Mystery who is Wholly Love.
All: Grateful for God’s loving action, we cannot keep from singing. Amen.

Hymn: Christ Has No Body Now but Yours MV 171

Extinguishing Candles
We extinguish these flames but not the light of truth. Barrhead
The warmth of community or the fire of commitment will continue. -Hazel /Westlock
These we carry in our hearts until we are together again. - Athabasca-
We continue the stories of hope and joy. Jarvie
Let us carry the flame of peace and love until we meet again. Fort Mc.

Benediction
Go from here to embrace the present, embodying hope, loving our enemies, caring for the earth, choosing life. Go to witness to Holy Mystery who is Wholly Love. Grateful for God’s loving action, we cannot keep from singing. Go singing Hope, rejoicing in God’s Love, this day and ever more. Go in Peace.

Congregation and Choir Together
Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice!
Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!
Rejoice, rejoice, again I say rejoice!
Rejoice, rejoice, and again I say rejoice!

Postlude: Medley on “Blessed Assurance” by Phoebe Knapp, Rev. Jim Alexander, Pianist

Grace (together)
For food that stays our hunger,
For rest that brings us ease,
For homes where memories linger, We give our thanks for these.

06/02/2026

May 31, 2026 – Dave’s Meditation

Mission or commission
This is Trinity Sunday, a topic that I have been challenged with a few times over the years: father, son, Holy Spirit. What are we to make of it. Within the past couple of years, I remember proposing that in that trio it was up to us, the human race, to provide the “Spirit” part of that trinity. We were obviously not God, and Jesus was recognized as the son, so if we are to be a part of the equation, it falls to us to be the Spirit. So, since I went with that in recent memory, I decided I had to try something different this time.
Enter David Lose:
I’ll admit, I don’t have statistics to back this up yet, but I’m still willing to wager a considerable sum on the proposition that most of our hearers, when they hear the “Great Commission” in Matthew, feel neither inspired nor encouraged but instead just a tad guilty. Why? Because day in and day out they do not perceive themselves as called and sent to bear witness to their faith and, even more, do not feel equipped to do so. So, when they hear Jesus’ very clear instructions, they are reminded of one more thing they should, but regularly do not, do — which is as sure a recipe for guilt as I know.
And, truth be told, if they feel guilty about this verse with its explicit words of commissioning, how often do other elements of the worship service that implicitly invite them to share their faith or send them into the world to bear witness to Christ create the same uncomfortable sensation of failing our Lord’s expectations.
…
Okay, so here’s the thing: because, as adults, we derive a great deal of our sense of ourselves from our areas of competence — at work, at home, in volunteer activities or hobbies — when we find ourselves in situations where we do not feel competent our anxiety shoots through the roof. (This, by the way, is why adults have a hard time learning a new language or musical instrument — it’s not that our brains are too old or hardwired to learn something new; it’s that we can’t stand feeling incompetent and so quit before making much progress.)
Now, think about how often our hearers have been invited, for instance, to make connections between their faith and life, share that faith with others, or invite others to come to church. Truth be told, they’ve almost never been asked, let alone shown how, to do these kinds of things even in the relatively safe confines of church let alone in more threatening situations outside of church. Which means that, bottom line, they don’t feel competent to fulfill anything remotely resembling Jesus’ Commission.
You would note, if you were reading this, that I inserted three dots in the middle of that quote. That’s because there was a part directed at professionally trained and employed clergy, which I’m not, and neither are you. That doesn’t change the current message however.
In other parts of his article, Mr. Lose has some specific suggestions for giving people opportunities to practice sharing their faith, to practice “the great commission”, so to speak. I don’t know how comfortable I would be in that situation. I guess the answer there is, to requote

Dr, Lose Which means that, bottom line, they don’t feel competent to fulfill anything remotely resembling Jesus’ Commission.
I went elsewhere to try to figure out the difference between mission and commission. Here is a short clip of what I found:
Mission, is For God and announcing the process.
Commission is more so acts of people for the Good News. And is the process.
I’m not sure if that is a definition provided by AI Artificial Intelligence or AI Actual Intelligence, but it arose from an article I was reading related to the David Lose article. It said, as I interpreted it, that the mission of the early church was to spread God’s word, and to enroll new people in the Way. Jesus’ “Great Commission” was a challenge to his disciples to not only understand the mission, but also to go out and DO it.
That was the point of Mr. Lose’s article, I think, that the church knows what Jesus wanted his disciples to do, but it doesn’t always know how to do it. I frequently find myself in that quandary. It is possible to understand what Jesus would have us do, but it is not so easy to find out how to do it.
It might be easier to think about the Genesis story. At least there is a given start and finish to that story. There is room for interpretation, of course. For example, Bruce Epperly writes about how God’s creation of the world is not as male dominated as some would suppose. He says, in part:
In God’s image, humans are created both male and female. The divine is larger than any human image: God embraces all that we find in ourselves and then much more. Female imagery for God is just as theologically legitimate as male imagery. We catch a glimpse of Spirit alongside the Parent Creator in God’s breathing the universe into being.
His is one of the modern-day visions of the Creation story. A related, but not directly connected position was this statement about a vision of God.
“God is like a circle or sphere whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.” This is also the meaning of divine omnipresence. All places are at God’s center; all creatures are centered in God. In a universe whose grandeur is beyond our imagination, we matter.
That doesn’t relate Genesis’ story of creation, but it does add a different way to envision the creator. I think that is an interesting way to describe an all-knowing and ever-present God, I especially like the closing... We matter.
I am taking a rather scattergun approach to things this week, so I hope at least some of it connects. I have one last quote, which is from Bruce Epperly

The Gospel reading contains an early Trinitarian formula. Our good news involves an always relational, ever-creative, dynamic and interactive God. Trinitarian theology, at its best, always promises God’s presence. Jesus is always with us, giving insight and inspiration, in partnership with God the Creator and Spirit. The Trinity alerts us that we have work to do – to share good news, spiritual vision, and healing in this time of governmental malpractice, (political) evil, incivility, and planetary destruction.
This is where Trinity and the Great Commission come together in my mind. Jesus is “quoted” as saying, “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them …and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
I harken back to David Lose saying that many people feel unqualified to fulfil that commission; I know I do, but I read into that passage the same message I noted at the beginning. As Jesus said, “I am with you always”. I suggest that means we are challenged to embody the spirit through our actions.
It is a big “ask” on Jesus’ part. It hasn’t been the Great Commission by accident. But with God’s never-ending love and support it is something to which we can aspire. May it be so. Amen.

05/29/2026

Hazel Bluff United Church
May 31, 2026
Trinity Sunday

Today’s Worship Leader: Dave Lent

Thought for the day
Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last human freedom - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances. (Viktor Frankle: Austrian philosopher and holocaust survivor)

Welcome

Upcoming Worship
June 7 – Rejoice in Hope! Service @ HB Hall
June 14 – TBD
June 21 – Church Picnic at Deb & Gil Dubrule’s acreage

Refreshments will be served after worship.
All are welcome!

Announcements
• June 7 – Rejoice in Hope! Join us in celebration at Hazel Bluff Hall @ 11am. Free-will luncheon to follow.
• June 21 @ 10:00am - Hazel Bluff Church picnic at Gil & Deb Dubrule’s acreage. Worship led by Jackie St. Goddard and Holy Communion led by Dorothy Baker. Potluck lunch and time of fellowship to follow. All are welcome. Maps to the acreage are available at the back of the church.
• Access the Worship bulletins 3 ways: via our email list or our page every Friday or in print Sunday mornings at the church

Praise and Prayer List
Thanks be to God for prayers answered.

Continue to pray for:
-Those affected by Mental Health Concerns
-Residents of Long-Term Care and Lodges
-Grieving Families in our Community
-All Victims of Violence
-Survivors of Residential Schools
-all Churches, Local, National and Worldwide

World Council of Churches-Ecumenical Prayer Cycle:
Angola & Mozambique
Acknowledgement of the Land
We are descended from people and governments that signed treaties with numerous indigenous tribes that promised to share the lands in cooperation and for mutual benefit and to care for those lands as a bequest to future generations. It is a commitment that will continue for generations. We pray for the courage and ability to continue this quest

Opening Hymn: It’s a song of praise for the maker MV # 30

Candle lighting
We light this candle as a visible reminder that we are committed to working toward creative change in the world,
We turn to the Christ Light as we worship with a spirit of love.

Shared prayers and concerns and Celebrations

Call to Worship
Our Creator God made the universe and all that is in it, from beyond the skies to the land and the sea. God calls us to worship.
So we gather together, aware of Creation around us and preparing to worship God.
Teacher Jesus shows us an example of living in peace and harmony with all. Jesus calls us to worship.
We gather to be reminded again of how we should live in order to seek peace and harmony with everyone with whom we have contact.
The energizing Spirit breathes life into our very being so that we will live as we are intended to live as followers of Jesus. The Spirit calls us to worship.
So we gather to experience the Spirit’s energy and warmth building within and among us as we worship.

Opening Prayer
Holy One, Holy Three,
Blessed and blessing Trinity
you move in Creation like a great wind
like a dancing flame,
like a still small voice
and we are blown away, alight and listening!
Help us to open our hearts
to the wisdom of the grandparents and ancestors,
those living and those who have died.
Help us to open our hearts
to the wisdom of the children and grandchildren,
those living and those yet to be born.
Help us to open our hearts to you in this place and
space, as we share life in the world and welcome
the wisdom of the Word.
In Christ’s name, in the Spirit’s power, through the Creator's love. May it be so, Amen

Hymn: Bring many names VU # 268

Theme Time

Prayer of Illumination
Ancient words, ancient stories, speak to our hearts today

Scripture:
Psalm 8. VU # 732
What are human beings that God cares about. them?
2 Corinthians 13:11-13.
Agree with one another; live in peace, trinity
Matthew 28:16-20
Go be disciples in all the world!

Message

A new Creed. All God’s Children Sing

Prayer of Confession
We are spreading ourselves too thinly,
hoping that you, God, will spread your grace.
We turn from cultivating affluence
hoping that you, O Spirit, will cultivate your passion in us.
We turn from our work, honouring a needed time for rest,
hoping that you, O Christ, will live in us this morning.
Grow in us and through us to bless this world you love. Amen.

Assurance

Minute for Mission: Belonging Without Barriers
Every child should be able to experience the joys of camp: laughing around a fire, trying something new, and feeling the joy of community.
But for some children, camp is not always accessible. When needs are more complex, when extra care, training, or equipment is required, families can be left wondering if there is a place where their child will be able to participate and truly belong.
Through Mission and Service partners, that answer is yes.
At Pearce Williams Summer Camp & Retreat Facility, inclusion is part of the foundation. Staff are specially trained. Adaptive and sensory supports are built into the experience. Care is taken to ensure that every camper can participate fully and safely.
At Pearce Williams, inclusion is more than access. It is about belonging without barriers. Children are not sitting on the sidelines, but fully part of camp life, joining in the singing, swimming, creating, and connecting alongside others. It means families can trust that their children are not just welcomed, but fully supported.
Our gifts to Mission and Service help make this possible. They provide the tools, training, and care needed to ensure no child is turned away because their needs complex.
Every child deserves a place at camp, and every child deserves to know they belong. Make your gift to Mission and Service today.

Hymn: Put peace into each other’s hands MV # 173

Offering Dedication
Creator God, you loved us into being, blessing us with gifts of diversity and abundance
Draw us together as community, in gratitude and grace.
Christ Jesus, you came among us, infusing the ordinary with holiness.
Open our hearts to your extravagant love.
Spirit Song, you dance with and through us, inspiring possibility and hope.
Enliven our faith and embolden our justice.
Blessed Trinity, we bring our gifts to be infused with your
blessing.
May they inspire possibility and hope. Amen
Offering Hymn. We give you but your own. VU # 542

Prayers of the People

Hymn: Praise our maker VU #316

Commissioning
On this Trinity Sunday, remembering that God is known by many names and many descriptions
we have gathered to abide in God’s presence
On this Trinity Sunday, when we seek to give name to the One who is beyond naming, greater than we can imagine, more than our hearts and minds can really hold, and yet who is as close and comforting as our breath,
We have gathered to abide in God’s presence
Now we go forth, knowing that the blessings of the God who is beyond naming,
the God who is known in Jesus
and the God who dwells within and around us.
will be our strength and courage day by day. Amen

Closing Hymn: We are marching VU #646

https://youtu.be/ooHrGu2S5KU?si=gOpf3lCD1VFOxd-m

05/26/2026

May 24, 2026 – Meditation

Today’s message comes to you from Pastor James Laurence on his website MyPastoralPonderings.com. It has been shortened slightly, however.
The Day of Pentecost is always a great celebration for the church. We gather together each year on this day, to hear the story of the birth of the Church, told in Acts 2: when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles like the rush of a violent wind, with tongues of fire dancing on their heads; people from all nations hearing the apostles speaking in their own language, and more than 3,000 responding by being baptized into Christ.
It is an amazing story to hear again, isn’t it? The miracle of Pentecost. But don’t you wonder a little, when you hear this story, whether we are missing something today? After all, I doubt that our celebration this morning will include a violent wind, or fire, or miraculous speech. So, are we missing something? Where is the wind and the fire today? Where is the excitement of that first Pentecost?
Perhaps the better question to ask is: where is the Holy Spirit today? After all, isn’t that the point of Pentecost? To give us the Holy Spirit? And if we ask the question in that way, then we do, indeed, have a pretty exciting answer, if you ask me. Because the Holy Spirit is without a doubt here with us today, in some very amazing and powerful ways.

First, the Holy Spirit is here, and comes to us today, through the Holy Word – the divinely-inspired, faith-producing, life-changing Word of God – which connects us to all Christians going all the way back to that first Pentecost, and connects us to the God who inspired and guided its every word.

The same Holy Spirit who inspired Peter to preach on that first Pentecost, is here with us today as we hear again his ancient words. Those who heard Peter that day heard him speak in their own language. And so do we. Just as many Christians around the world today are hearing this in their own language. It may not seem as miraculous, but I think it is pretty incredible to think of Christians around the world today hearing these words in their own language.

The second way that the Holy Spirit comes to us today is through the gathered congregation. As Martin Luther put it in his Small Catechism:
The Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one common, true faith.
The Holy Spirit is the reason we are here today. The Holy Spirit called and gathered us here, just as it has done for centuries all around the world. The Holy Spirit brings us together and gives us a variety of gifts, all for the common good. The Spirit has been poured out upon all flesh, as Peter reminds us in his famous sermon, young and old, men and women, all have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, and we come together to share our gifts and insights, and become more than we can possibly be, on our own.

The Pentecost miracle happened when the apostles were all together in one place. And it happened when devout Jews from every nation under heaven were present. That’s not a coincidence. The Holy Spirit likes us to be together. Something important happens when we are together. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is present when we gather in his name, which we do whenever we worship together. The Holy Spirit can come to us when we are alone, of course, but scripture teaches us that coming together in Jesus’ name is the best way to discover the Holy Spirit among us.

When we come together in Jesus’ name, there is another way in which the Holy Spirit comes to us. And that is through the Holy Sacraments.

When Peter finished his sermon on that first Pentecost, those who heard it asked him, “what should we do?” And Peter responded, “Repent, and be baptized … and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:37-38). They received the gift of the Holy Spirit not through wind and fire, but through holy baptism. And it is in baptism that we, too, first received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We may not have wind and fire today, but we are here, gathered in the name of Jesus. Doing those very things that the Church has done since that first Pentecost. And that means that the Holy Spirit is present among us now, just as it was then.
It’s always tempting to think that we need more – we need more excitement, more enthusiasm, more emotion; we need more wind and fire on Sunday mornings. But we are at our best when we refuse to believe that the church needs anything more than the Word, the congregation gathered in Jesus’ name, and the Sacraments. Because we believe, teach and confess that it is through these means of grace that God gives us all that we need for our salvation.

The point of Pentecost is not the wind and the fire – it never was. The point of Pentecost is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who brings to the church all the gifts of God, all that we need for life and salvation.

So if the point of Pentecost is the gift of the Holy Spirit, then the result of Pentecost is sharing the good news of the gospel with all nations. Right before the Pentecost miracle, Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

If you are baptized; if you have heard God’s Word today; if you partake in Holy Communion; then I have news for you: the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you have received the power needed to be our Lord’s witnesses, even to the ends of the earth.

You have everything you need to go and share your faith. Everything you need to be the church, the body of Christ, in the world because you have the Holy Spirit. You can tell everyone where to go to receive all that God promises. You know where everyone can go to receive the forgiveness of sins, salvation, and true, eternal, abundant life. You know the one place where everyone can go to find true joy, true meaning, and true blessedness. It is the place whose birth we celebrate today – it is the church. The Church – the body of Christ formed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Church is the place where – miraculously – each and every Sunday the Holy Spirit comes again to those gathered in Jesus’ name.

There won’t be any violent wind or fire today. At least, I hope not. But we’re not here for the wind and the fire. We are here to worship the God behind that wind and fire, to give thanks for the gift of God’s only Son, who died to save us and forgive us, and we are here to receive again the promised Holy Spirit, who unites us to our God in ways beyond what we can even imagine.

Nothing has changed, in all these many years. We are here for the same reason the church has always gathered together. May we continue to respond to the ever-present call of the Holy Spirit, who gathers, enlightens and makes holy the whole Christian church, now and forever. Amen

Pondering my way through God's beloved world