1. WORSHIP WITH CAPITOL HEIGHTS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 1100 Fillmore St.
Come, Spirit of life,
renew the face of the earth . . .
WORSHIP WITH CAPITOL HEIGHTS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
1100 Fillmore St.
Denver, Colorado 80206
June 4, 2017
The Festival of Pentecost

2. Jürgen Moltmann, The Source of Life, learning still from having been a German prisoner of war . . .
In front of me I see two angels.
One is the angel of history. Paul Klee painted him, and Walter Benjamin interpreted him. His face is turned towards the past. Where we see a chain of events, he sees a single catastrophe, which unremittingly heaps ruin upon ruin. He has turned his back to the future, while in front of him the mass of history’s wreckage rises up to high heaven.
The other is the angel of the future. The prophet Malachi saw him. He prepared the way for God’s coming in our history. The is ‘the angel of the covenant’, the angel of promise. Mary heard him, and trusted him: ‘Let it be to me according to your word.’ The aged Simeon saw the fulfilled promise in the messianic Child: ‘Now let Your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen Your Savior.’ This angel of the future doesn’t look back in grief or anger to our human history with its fields of rubble. He gazes with great eyes in the future of the coming of God and heralds the birth of the divine Child. The tempest of the divine Spirit is blowing in his wings and garments, as if that tempest had blown him into our history. He brings the birth of the future from the Spirit of the divine promise.
Many painters have painted this angel of the future, and he has come to meet many of us in one way or another. He seldom encounters us in our successes and victories but generally when our life lies in ruins; for the angel of the future and the angel of history belong together. This angel came to meet me (over) sixty years ago, in a dark, cold hut in a prisoner of war camp near Ostend (Belgium). As I despaired over the ruin which my people had caused everywhere during the war, I was born anew to a living hope. When I wanted to give up my shattered life, I was raised up by God. When I felt completely abandoned by everything good and hopeful, I found in Christ my brother in necessity.
, the whole of life.

3. The longer I have lived with this new hope, the clearer it has become to me: our true hope in life doesn’t spring from the feelings of our youth, lovely and fair though they are. Nor does it emerge from the objective possibilities of history, unlimited though they may be. Our true hope in life is wakened and sustained and finally fulfilled by the great divine mystery which is above us and in us and round about us, nearer to us than we can be to ourselves. It encounters us as the great promise of our life and this world: nothing will be in vain. It will succeed. In the end all will be well! It meets us too in the call to life: ‘I live and you shall live also.’ We are called to this hope, and the call often sounds like a command - a command to resist death and the powers of death, and a command to love life and cherish it: every life, the life we share

4. Our light amid barbed wire shines with prayers for healing and freedom
Our blue light shines with prayers for healing for all who struggle with AIDS.
Our light amid barbed wire shines with prayers for healing and freedom
for all with chronic illness, severe pain, and under oppression,
and for all who suffer from spread of violence.
We always light a candle in prayer for Shalom,
the fullness of peace and well-being.
Our opening -
I will praise You, dear Lord, for You have drawn me up . . .
You brought up my soul from the realm of death . . .
Sing praise to the Lord, the Spirit of life, and give thanks for God’s ways -
judgment speaks but a moment -
favor resounds for a lifetime.
Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning . . .
You have turned my mourning into dancing;
You have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
so that my very depths may praise and not be silent.
O Lord, my God, my life will give thanks always.
(adapted from Psalm 130)
SPIRIT Hymn 319

5. The Story of Pentecost from Acts In the Spirit of Jesus, let us pray -
In the Spirit of Jesus, let us pray -
Father of the heavens, Mother of the earth, Spirit of life,
come anew to us all so that Your character, Your faithfulness, Your rule
may shape our earth as it fills the heavens.
Meet us daily in the needs we bear with enough, just enough, we pray.
Meet us daily in our need for renewal in forgiveness and new beginnings,
so we might meet our world in that way.
Amid life’s turmoil and conflict guard us from such rule and deliver us from evil,
for all that is right and faithful, good and lovely abides ever with You,
and thus is always being given away to all of life, amen.
LORD, YOU HAVE COME TO THE LAKESHORE Hymn 37
The Festival of Pentecost - It’s Significance as Religious Devotion
The Morning Offering for Health in the Challenge of River Blindness
“O Living Breath of God”, a choral reflection,
words from Osvaldo Catena, translated by Gerhard M. Cartford,
music from Vårvindar Friska, a Swedish folk tune, arranged by John Helgen
The Festival of Pentecost - It’s Meaning

6. Coming once more to the Table that is set for us all . . .
with prayers of thanks, remembrance, and hope -
Communion, as we sing - HOW CAN I KEEP FROM SINGING
(A hymn by Robert Wadsworth Lowry, 19th Century American Baptist,
the fourth verse is from Doris Plenn, sung often by Pete Seeger)
My life flows on in endless song;
Above earth's lamentation,
I hear the sweet, tho' far-off hymn
That hails a new creation;
Thro' all the tumult and the strife
I hear the music ringing;
It finds an echo in my soul—
How can I keep from singing?
What tho' my joys and comforts die?
The Lord my Saviour liveth;
What tho' the darkness gather round?
Songs in the night he giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that refuge clinging;
Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth,

7. I lift my eyes; the cloud grows thin; I see the blue above it;
And day by day this pathway smooths,
Since first I learned to love it;
The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
A fountain ever springing;
All things are mine since I am his—
How can I keep from singing?
When tyrants tremble, sick with fear,
And hear their death-knell ringing,
When friends rejoice both far and near,
In prison cell and dungeon vile,
Our thoughts to them go winging;
When friends by shame are undefiled,
Prayerfully, our celebrations, concerns, opportunities, and reflections . . .

8. This is my song, O God of all the nations,
"This Is My Song" is a 1934 hymn written by Lloyd Stone ( ) using the Finlandia Hymn melody composed by Jean Sibelius. It often appears in hymnals with substituted and additional verses by Georgia Harkness ( ).
It is sometimes called "A Song of Peace" which is taken from the second line of the song.
This is my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine.
But other hearts in other lands are beating,
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight too and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
O hear my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.
(verses by Georgia Harkness ca.1939)
May truth and freedom come to every nation;
May peace abound where strife has raged so long;
That each may seek to love and build together,
A world united, righting every wrong;
A world united in its love for freedom,
Proclaiming peace together in one song.

9. This is my prayer, O Lord of all earth's kingdoms:
Thy kingdom come; on earth thy will be done.
Let Christ be lifted up till all shall serve him,
And hearts united learn to live as one.
O hear my prayer, thou God of all the nations;
Myself I give thee, let thy will be done.
Go in the Spirit of life to live free with joy kept strong in God’s being,
go in the freedom of life to love and bless the world with which you are one, amen.
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Please join us for fellowship downstairs in our social hall if you can stay a little longer.
Today’s Dialogue at 11 will continue reflection with Bible Study of and from
the Festival of Pentecost.
Remember, next Sunday’s Worship is at 11 AM, an Ecumenical Service,
we shall reflect on the work of Sanctuary Communities seeking the safety
and welfare of our neighbors who are immigrants.