05/24/2026
This Sunday's worship.
We gather together at 10am for worship and invite all to join us in person or via zoom/Youtube. You can find the service at the following link: https://www.apostles-elca.org/pages/worship-online
Day of Pentecost, Year A
Gail Ramshaw
E-formation
This coming Sunday is Pentecost, the fiftieth day of Easter, and we keep the resurrection of Christ by celebrating the Spirit of the Risen Christ in our midst. Jesus Christ has not gone away but is here with us: we stand to greet him as we hear him speak in the gospel reading, and we share in his body in the meal.
The Readings in the Bible
John 20:19-23
In the Gospel of John, Jesus appears to the disciples on the day of his resurrection to enact his living power through his gift of the Holy Spirit. Thus John offers theologically what Luke presented narratively. For John, the resurrection is the empowering of the church by the Spirit. John’s language of divine breath recalls God’s breathing on the first creation.
or
John 7:37-39
The Jewish Festival of Booths included a ritual in which the priests, in praying for rain, recalled the hardships of their ancestral wilderness wanderings and poured water down the temple steps. Scholars see this as an example of ancient sympathetic magic turned into believers’ prayers. John used the readers’ knowledge of this ritual as a metaphor for Jesus’ claim to be himself the water of life. Verse 38 can be translated as referring either to Jesus or to the believers.
Acts 2:1-21
Once again Luke presents a narrative to convey meaning. The fire and wind, associated with God’s presence on Mount Sinai, are now experienced in the assembly of believers, and miraculous events, seen in the ministry of Jesus, occur now in the church. Acts is moving the church into all the ends of the earth, and Acts 2 begins this multilingual proclamation. Luke cites the apocalyptic vision of the prophet Joel to authenticate the power of God among the leaders of the church. Although some Christians who practice glossolalia tie their ecstatic speech to this narrative, Luke referred instead to actual languages that were spoken in the Greco-Roman world.
or
Numbers 11:24-30
The Pentateuch includes an ancient narrative in which Moses’ authority, understood as having come from the Lord, is literally distributed among other leaders, who now share in the Spirit’s power. The somewhat comic tale suggests that the post-exilic Israelite community was experiencing controversies over leadership, and the editors of Numbers sought to ground religious leadership in God and under the authority of Moses.
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
In about 54 ce Paul wrote to the church in Corinth correcting some of their behaviors and calling them to unity in Christ. It seems that the Corinthians had introduced a status system in which some ministries were more valued than others. Paul described an ideal community in which all persons valued each other as manifestations of God’s Spirit for the common good.
or
Acts 2:1-21
Once again Luke presents a narrative to convey meaning. The fire and wind, associated with God’s presence on Mount Sinai, are now experienced in the assembly of believers, and miraculous events, seen in the ministry of Jesus, occur now in the church. Acts is moving the church into all the ends of the earth, and Acts 2 begins this multilingual proclamation. Luke cites the apocalyptic vision of the prophet Joel to authenticate the power of God among the leaders of the church. Although some Christians who practice glossolalia tie their ecstatic speech to this narrative, Luke referred instead to actual languages that were spoken in the Greco-Roman world.
However, if you are unable to attend Live,you can also view the recorded service later by clicking here.(Please note: The recorded service may not be immediately available online. If not, check back later.)
