Dear Friends, we offer this self-directed worship outline as a resource for individual, family, or small group use. It is modeled on our regular order of worship, but please adapt it freely to suit your needs and circumstances. When a month has five Sundays, we use the 5th Sunday for semi-programmed worship: everything is a little looser, with no main planned message and more time for waiting on the Spirit’s direction. You’ll find that same openness embodied in our self-directed worship service.
We pray that this will be a blessing to you.
Gathering in Worship
Prelude
The Lord Is In His Holy Temple | GYC Choir
Announcements, Introductions, and Birthdays
We welcome all to this virtual gathering for worship, hosted by Wilmington Friends Meeting. As you know, our regularly scheduled corporate meeting for worship has been cancelled, in light of the need to slow the spread of COVID-19 by refraining from gathering together in person. However, no virus is powerful enough to stop us from being gathered by the bond of love! Whoever you are, and wherever you’re from, we’re glad that you’re joining us. Please participate as you feel led by the Spirit.
If you would like to join us on Zoom at 10:00 a.m., please message our Facebook page to receive the link!
Gathering Moment
Sacred breath,
move through all the rooms we are in.
Unlock a fiery song within your people.
As we wait in quiet anticipation
breathe into us
your hopes and dreams
for a world filled with justice, love, and peace.
(adapted from LiturgyBits)
Centering Silence
Please take a moment to quietly collect your thoughts and prepare your heart(s) for worship.
Opening Music
Spirit of the Living God | Pastor Loran
(Lyrics available in the video.)
Caring in Community
Friendly Moment
White Quakers Confronting White Privilege | QuakerSpeak
(Transcript available beneath the video.)
Minute for Mission
In response to the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent protests in Minneapolis, Diane Randall — General Secretary of Friends Committee on National Legislation — issued a public statement. Here’s a quote:
As people of faith, we offer our love and our condolences to the family and friends of George Floyd. But love and condolences are not enough. For too long, people of color have experienced racial profiling, undue use of force, and murder at the hands of police. This unjust system must change and all of us must take responsibility for making that change happen.
As Quakers, we reject violence at all times and in all circumstances. Our hearts are torn open by the violent confrontations not just in Minneapolis but around the country.
We believe in the paramount need to protect and promote human rights, civil liberties, and civil rights. Friends seek a society free from discrimination due to race, creed, gender, ethnic or national heritage, age, or sexual orientation. This should not be a radical concept or position in 2020, but sadly it is still far from the societal norm.
Read the entire statement here.
Praises and Concerns
Praise for the continuing joy of spiritual fellowship.
Praise for the warming weather.
Praise for the ways sacrificial love is being shown.
Praise for those who seek after righteousness.
Praise for the hope that lies within us.
Pray for those who are grieving the loss of loved ones without being able to gather.
Pray for Friends who are struggling with bitterness, especially about politics.
Pray for strength and wisdom for healthcare workers around the world.
Pray that those who help sustain us will find ways to feel renewed.
Pray that our nation will repent of the racial injustice we engage in.
Pray for our political leaders – locally, nationally, and on a global scale – that they would prioritize the peace and health of all people. We pray especially for Governor Mike DeWine, for Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted, and for Dr. Amy Acton.
Congregational Prayer Focus
Eastern Hills Friends Meeting
Wider Quaker Prayer Focus
Belize Friends Ministries
Personal praises and concerns can be found in our congregational email. If you would like to submit a praise or a concern, email it to julie dot rudd at wilmingtonfriendsohio dot org. All submissions will, by default, be made anonymous if shared online.
Pastoral Prayer
(Prayer by Rev. Karla Miller)
O for a thousand tongues to sing sweet praise!
O rushing wild spirit of God
pour out the fire of love upon us!
Unfurl your language upon our lips,
Unlock our minds to embrace all possibility
Unleash our hearts so Your justice flows freely.
O for a thousand tongues to sing sweet praise!
O rushing wild spirit of God
pour out the fire of love upon us!
May your breeze bring health and wholeness,
May your breath heat our resolve,
May your Spirit storm the earth with mercy and grace
.
O for a thousand tongues to sing sweet praise!
O rushing wild spirit of God
pour out the fire of love upon us!
Set us free from self-doubt,
Make us listeners as we seek awareness,
Shake us awake when we forget our privilege.
O for a thousand tongues to sing sweet praise!
O rushing wild spirit of God
pour out the fire of love upon us!
Amen. Amen. Amen.
Offering and Offertory
Sweet, Sweet Spirit | Instrumental Praise Series
(Lyrics here.)
If you wish to financially support the work of Wilmington Friends Meeting, please mail your donation to us at 66 N Mulberry St, Wilmington, OH 45177, use this link to donate online, or download the EasyTithe app and find us there. Or, as a way of embodying generosity, please make a donation to the religious organization or charity of your choice. Thank you for supporting holy work in the world through your hands and prayers and financial gifts.
Hearing the Scriptures
The Story for Children
Pentecost in Lego | Tangy Crayfish
Quaker Query
Quaker Queries for All Seasons | Charity Kemper Sandstrom
James 3:18 — Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
Query: Am I planting seeds of grace from a place of wholeness so that I may continue to walk in rightness with God and others?
Meditation for Pentecost
Together, we will be reading through the second chapter of Acts. Each section is accompanied by a verse of Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart. You can hear the hymn tune here.
When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.
There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, “Aren’t these all Galileans? How come we’re hearing them talk in our various mother tongues?
Parthians, Medes, and Elamites;
Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene;
Immigrants from Rome, both Jews and proselytes;
Even Cretans and Arabs!
“They’re speaking our languages, describing God’s mighty works!”
Their heads were spinning; they couldn’t make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: “What’s going on here?”
Others joked, “They’re drunk on cheap wine.”
Spirit of God, descend upon my heart:
Wean it from earth, thro’ all its pulses move.
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art,
And make me love Thee as I ought to love.
Queries: Where and how do you experience God’s Spirit descending on you? How does it send you out into the world?
That’s when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: “Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. These people aren’t drunk as some of you suspect. They haven’t had time to get drunk—it’s only nine o’clock in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen:
“In the Last Days,” God says,
“I will pour out my Spirit
on every kind of people:
Your sons will prophesy,
also your daughters;
Your young men will see visions,
your old men dream dreams.
When the time comes,
I’ll pour out my Spirit
On those who serve me, men and women both,
and they’ll prophesy.
I’ll set wonders in the sky above
and signs on the earth below,
Blood and fire and billowing smoke,
the sun turning black and the moon blood-red,
Before the Day of the Lord arrives,
the Day tremendous and marvelous;
And whoever calls out for help
to me, God, will be saved.”
Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh;
Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear —
To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh;
Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.
Queries: If you gave yourself permission, what dreams would you be brave enough to have? Are you walking in the truth that God’s Spirit is poured out on everyone, regardless of age or gender or any other form of human division? How are you preparing to maintain that testimony in times of struggle or doubt?
“Fellow Israelites, listen carefully to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man thoroughly accredited by God to you—the miracles and wonders and signs that God did through him are common knowledge—this Jesus, following the deliberate and well-thought-out plan of God, was betrayed by men who took the law into their own hands, and was handed over to you. And you pinned him to a cross and killed him.
But God untied the death ropes and raised him up. Death was no match for him. David said it all:
I saw God before me for all time.
Nothing can shake me; he’s right by my side.
I’m glad from the inside out, ecstatic;
I’ve pitched my tent in the land of hope.
I know you’ll never dump me in Hades;
I’ll never even smell the stench of death.
You’ve got my feet on the life-path,
with your face shining sun-joy all around.
“Dear friends, let me be completely frank with you. Our ancestor David is dead and buried—his tomb is in plain sight today. But being also a prophet and knowing that God had solemnly sworn that a descendant of his would rule his kingdom, seeing far ahead, he talked of the resurrection of the Messiah—‘no trip to Hades, no stench of death.’ This Jesus, God raised up. And every one of us here is a witness to it. Then, raised to the heights at the right hand of God and receiving the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he poured out the Spirit he had just received. That is what you see and hear. For David himself did not ascend to heaven, but he did say,
God said to my Master, “Sit at my right hand
Until I make your enemies a stool for resting your feet.”
“All Israel, then, know this: There’s no longer room for doubt—God made him Master and Messiah, this Jesus whom you killed on a cross.”
Hast Thou not bid us love Thee, God and King?
All, all Thine own — soul, heart and strength and mind.
I see Thy cross — there teach my heart to cling;
O let me seek Thee, and O let me find.
Queries: If God was truly made manifest as a victim of a Roman cross, then how should this shape the Christian’s response to victims of state violence in contemporary times? Do your witness and conduct reflect the high value that God places on human life, as well as the resurrection hope that sustains us?
Cut to the quick, those who were there listening asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers! Brothers! So now what do we do?”
Peter said, “Change your life. Turn to God and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so your sins are forgiven. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is targeted to you and your children, but also to all who are far away—whomever, in fact, our Master God invites.”
He went on in this vein for a long time, urging them over and over, “Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!”
That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up. They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.
Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.
Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,
One holy passion filling all my frame:
The baptism of the heav’n descended Dove —
My heart an altar and Thy love the flame.
Queries: How does Holy Love lead us to stand aside from the assumptions of our “sick and stupid culture.”? How is the Spirit empowering and guiding us to change our lives?
If you would like more of a traditional sermon, you can find one here: Permission to Dream.
Sharing in Silence
Waiting Worship
During waiting worship, we listen together for God’s voice. As a virtual participant in this service, this may mean a time of waiting worship with those gathered in your family or small group. It could also be an individual experience. These breath prayers may be helpful to you, as you wait for God’s presence. If you want an online experience, you can join the Ben Lomond Quaker Center Online Meeting.
Blessing and Sending
Close of Waiting Worship
Thank you, Friends, for blessing us with your mindful and loving presence here. As we move toward the end of our time of worship, join us again in song.
Closing Music
Breathe On Me, Breath of God | The Mountain Anthems
(Lyrics in the first comment under the video.)
Closing Words
Thank you for sharing this virtual space with us!
As you enter a new week,
may you experience God’s presence.
May you feel God pouring out the Holy Spirit
over your heads and your thoughts and the words of your lips,
over your hearts and your feelings and emotions
and your compassion for all others,
and over your hands and your feet
as you put into action all that God commands you.
During this week,
may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with each of you; Amen.
Postlude
In Christ There Is No East or West | Mavis Staples
(Lyrics at the link.)