Worship Leading Document

Pastoral Welcome

Welcome to worship today. It is so good to be with you on this Pentecost a holiday in our church calendar. Last week we heard about Jesus on the cross, and the criminals besides him. The story went on and Jesus died and rose gain, and ascended into heaven. And then the disciples though they were changed forever went back to their normal lives. And awaited what God was going to do in their midst. But even before that day of pentecost that we will hear about in just a minute the disciples prepared their hearts to experience the presence of God. As we sing of God’s praises today I invite you do whatever you need to recognize God’s presence here and now. That might be standing, sitting, singing, remaining silent, participating, today that might mean wearing a mask or that might not for you.

Pastoral Prayer

Oh God pour your spirit out on us gathered here. Help us to recognize your spirit that is already living in us, and help us to respond to your holy spirit. We give thanks for gathering us here this morning, for the breathe that we breathe each second. We give thanks that you took on bodily form to experience the world as we know it, and God we give thanks that you sent your spirit our advocate, our dove, our fire, our gust of wind that all that do would be in response to you.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Pour your spirit out on the many transitions going on

Pour your spirit out on the graduations, the retirements, the moves, the new jobs, the transition of seasons, and the transition we our world is in with Covid-19. Lord God help us to remember and celebrate the ways that you have been present in our lives even before we remembered. That you power has been greater than we could have imagined, and that your love for us has remained stedfast even when we have fallen short of it. We need your spirit for every breath that we take, and we need your spirit in every transition that we make.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Pour out your spirit on the uncertainties and fears of our lives

When medical diagnoses are beyond our control,

When our future seems uncertain because it so often is,

pour your spirit out on us gathered here Lord God.

Oh God we surrender our uncertainties to you

We surrender our anxieties to you that you might transform them and redeem them to be good news for our world.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Lord God pour your spirit out on all churches this morning. On the gathered internationally interdenominational body proclaiming of your praises today. As we celebrate your holy spirit this Sunday I am reminded of the ways that you have and that you will continue to be with the church community. There is no place we could go that you are not already at.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Pour your spirit out on the leaders in our own lives. God be with the parents, the pastors, the mentors, guides, the leaders in our own life. Help us to discerns whose advice and accountability to follow. More than all of that God helps us to be led by your spirit more than by any person. Help us to follow you above even the loyalty that we give to our most trusted leaders. Pour your spirit out.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Redeeming god liberate us from complacency and apathy; inspire us with Christ’s vision for a world reborn; help us to recognize our gifts for ministry and to use them in service of others; transform our hearts and our minds; fill us with love that overflows; remind us that there is no greater calling.

In this moment of silent prayer we lift up to you in our own minds the unique things that you have placed on our hearts.

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Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Send your Spirit into our lives with the power of a mighty wind. Open the horizons of our minds by the flame of your wisdom. Loosen our tongues to show your praise.

Being made one by the power of the Spirit, let us pray as our Savior has taught us:

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 and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

Amen.

Transition

This Sunday is a time of transition for us in the same way that it was for the disciples on that pentecost day. They were in the process of transitioning living with and doing ministry every second with Jesus to live in anticipation of the holy spirit. With transition comes joy and with transitions comes sadness. As a part of our church there are a group of people that are facing the transition of graduation for high school. So we wanted to celebrate them by sharing just little glimpse of what their most meaningful moments at Ankeny First have been, and what their plans next year are. As we go through this video it’s a few minutes long I invite you to take a moment and give thanks for the ways that God has worked in the lives of each one of these graduates, and to celebrate with them and with God what their next chapter looks like, let’s take a look.

Celebration

Graduates video

Introduction to offering

As a church we are committed to our method of Worshiping God, connecting to God and to others, and to responding to Gods love and forgiveness out in our community and out into the world. That is what we are about. It is about the coming kingdom of God and following the spirit of God that is already in our midst. We participate in that with our prayer, pressence, our gifts, our service, and our witness. And we remember and celebrate with thankfulness the ways that we are able to give of ourselves through this next time of offering. If you are looking of opportunities to give of your financial gifts to God through our church you can do so via the offering plates at the doors here, through the give button on our church webpage, or through mailing a check to our Uptown Location. Let us give God thanks for the ways that we are able to participate in the mission of the church.