Podcasts about whitsunday

Texts: Acts 2:1ff, John 14:15ff, 1 Corinthians 12:4ff,Luke 11:9ff

The Day of Pentecost: Whitsunday ORISON: Veni Sancte Spiritus – Plainsong, Mode I PSALM 104:25-32,35-37 – Peter R. Hallock (1924-2014) HYMN: O thou who camest from above (Tune: HEREFORD) – Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876) NUNC DIMITTIS – Plainsong, Tone II; harm. Matteo Palotta (1680-1758) ANTHEM: Come, Holy Spirit – Peter R. Hallock Jason Anderson, director • Bill Turnipseed, reader • […]

The Rev. Dr. Karen Connor McGugan

The sermon from Pentecost (also known as Whitsunday) by Pastor Atkinson.

The Order for Morning Prayer, Whitsunday, The Feast of Pentecost by Fr. Damien

The Order for Evening Prayer, Whitsunday, The Feast of Pentecost by Fr. Damien

A Sermon for Whitsunday Acts 2:1-11 by William Klock In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  And so the great story began.  Six day.  God speaks.  And creation takes shape.  On the first day…on the second day…on the third day…and so on…like a liturgy.  In fact, there's a theory that Genesis 1 was written to be used at the dedication of the second temple.  Because it describes God creating the heavens and the earth as his own temple.  In Genesis 2 we even see that this temple has a holy of holies: a garden called Eden.  There he carefully crafts a man from the dust of the earth, breathes his own life into him, and places him in the garden, in that holy of holies, to act as his priest, to care for his temple, and to live in his presence. And then we humans sinned and it all went wrong.  But Genesis stands as a reminder of what the Lord intended and how it's supposed to be.  The pagans tried to get it back.  They built temples for their gods and in them, to represent the gods' rule, they placed idols carved of wood or stone.  And attempt to recover Eden, to re-enter that fellowship with God, but on our terms, not his.  But Genesis reminds us that God has built his own temple by the power of his creative word and that he created us to be his image, to tend and to keep his temple, and to steward his rule on earth. And Genesis…and the whole story that follows…reminds us that the Lord will not leave us forever cast out.  Into the midst of the darkness God spoke again and called forth Abraham and with Abraham and his family, God launched a new heaven-and-earth project.  Over and over he showed his faithfulness to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, and to the whole people of Israel.  When they were slaves in Egypt he heard their cry and he rescued them.  He defeated Pharaoh and the Egyptians and led his beloved people through the Red Sea and into the wilderness.  At Mount Sinai the Lord gave the gift of the torah, the law, to Moses and the people.  And with the torah he gave them instructions, think of them as blueprints, for the tabernacle.  The Lord promised: I will be your God and you will be my people.  Once again, the Lord would take up his dwelling in their midst.  The tabernacle was a portable temple full of the symbols of the garden of Eden.  Wherever the people stopped to camp, they set up the tabernacle, and the glory cloud, the shekinah representing the Lord's presence, would descend to fill the holy of holies.  And the torah set the people apart from the nations and taught them how to be holy so that they might be the people who lived with the Lord in their midst.  Israel, camped around the tabernacle and the Lord's glory cloud, were a sort of new creation in miniature—heaven and earth, God and human beings back together, even if imperfectly.  It gave the people hope.  A hope that one day the Lord would truly and fully set this broken world to rights—to make things the way they're supposed to be.  And it wasn't just hope for Israel.  The Lord intended the watching nations to see his people and take note. That's the climax of the Exodus.  Not the Passover or the Red Sea.  Those are important—vitally important—parts of the story.  But it's Exodus 40, the last chapter of the book, where the Lord's glory clouds descends to dwell in the tabernacle—that's the climax.  The Lord once again dwelling with his people. We see it happen again when the Israelites are settled in the land of Canaan.  King Solomon builds a permanent temple for the Lord and, once again, at its dedication the glory cloud descends to fill the holy of holies. It was all there as part of the story to point the people in hope to God's restoration of heaven and earth—to the day when the Lord's promises would be fulfilled.  Because the Lord didn't just come to Israel and manifest himself in a cloud of glory; he spoke.  Israel's prophetic tradition was full of promises looking forward to that day. King David knew the Lord's promises and sang out in prophetic hope of that future day in Psalm 72: May he have dominion from sea to sea…May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him…Blessed by the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.  Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory!  Isaiah sang of the coming Messiah who would set creation to rights: There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.  And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.  And when God has done his work through the Messiah, Isaiah sings, the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.  Habakkuk similarly would sing out in hope: For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.   When the Lord's cloud of glory descended to fill the temple, it pointed forward to that day when he would—when he will—fill all of creation with his glorious presence. Think about this hope that Israel had and how great it was and I think it helps give a sense of just how tragic it then was when Israel failed to keep her end of the covenant and the Lord allowed the Babylonian army to capture Jerusalem and to destroy the temple—his temple.  Israel sinned, Israel showed disregard for the law the Lord had given to keep her holy.  And worst of all—over and over and over—Israel prostituted herself to the gods of the pagans.  It was a deep, deep tragedy.  As the Psalmist laments in Psalm 137: By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept.  Not just for what was lost, but like Adam and Eve, cast out and weeping over their own disobedience.  But even then, in those dark, dark days of exile the Lord still spoke.  Through Isaiah and Ezekiel, through Zechariah and Malachi the Lord promised that he would come back to dwell with his people. And yet, as the Gospels begin, hundreds of years had passed and the Lord had yet to return.  Israel had returned from her exile.  The temple had been rebuilt.  The people and the priests went through all the motions.  The smoke went up from the great altar.  But the cloud of glory had never come down and returned to the temple.  And pagan kings still ruled with Israel under their heels. Again, this is where the Gospels begin.  St. John describes the darkness, the hopelessness, the absence and then he says that the word became flesh and lived among us…The light shone in the darkness.  Brothers and Sisters, the Gospels are about the return of God to his people in fulfilment of his promises.  The word—the embodiment of God's creative power—the word took on our flesh and was born of Mary.  In Jesus God not only returned to his people, he brought heaven and earth, God and humanity back together in his person.  Jesus is the manifestation of the hope of creation set to rights, of the breach between us and God healed.  Matthew puts it in terms of Isaiah's prophecy: Jesus is the promised Immanuel: God with us. And as the church has led us through the story of Jesus these last months, we've followed him to the cross where he took on himself the role of the Passover lamb.  He died for the sins of his people.  And just when sin and death thought they'd done their worst and defeated God once and for all, God raised Jesus from death.  It was like the Passover and the Red Sea all over again, only this time it wasn't an Egyptian king and his army that were defeated, it was evil itself. And then, last week, we stood with the disciples and watched as Jesus ascended to take his throne in heaven.  And if you know the story of Israel, if you know the Old Testament like Luke's readers did, you can't help but draw the connection.  If Jesus' death was a new Passover, then his ascension isn't just his going to heaven to take his throne as king.  It's definitely very much that and that's significant, but it also parallels Moses going up Mount Sinai to meet with the Lord.  And when Moses came down, he had the gift of the torah, the law, with him. And so now, in today's Gospel, from Acts 2 Luke writes: When the day of Pentecost had finally arrived, they were all together in the same place.   I'm sure Jesus' disciples were expecting something.  I don't think they knew exactly what.  As we heard in last week's Gospel, Jesus said that he had to leave, to take his throne—and the disciples would be sorry to see him go—but that it had to be that way, because Jesus would send the Holy Spirit to empower them.  At the last supper he'd said that with his blood he was making a new covenant.  They knew that a new covenant would need a new law—a new torah—because the law was what taught the people how to live out their end of the covenant, how to live as the people in whose midst the Lord dwelled. But what that would like was anyone's guess.  But when Jesus told them to go and wait in Jerusalem and that he would send the Spirit in a few days, I fully expect they made the connection with Pentecost, because Pentecost—which is just Greek for “fiftieth” because it's fifty days after Passover—because Pentecost was the great feast when Israel remembered and celebrate the giving of the law at Mount Sinai.  I think that by this time, the disciples were finally putting things together.  They were waiting those ten days with baited breath.  Jesus was alive.  Jesus was king.  Everything was happening just as he promised.  So they knew the Spirit would come.  But how?  And what would happen when he did?  And how would the Spirit be a new torah for this new covenant.  And so they obeyed Jesus.  They waited all together in Jerusalem—probably in that same “upper room” where they'd eaten the Passover.  And Luke goes on: Suddenly there came from heaven a noise like the sound of a mighty, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.   So many parts of the story come together here.  It helps to understand that wind and breath are the same word in both Hebrew and Greek.  And so this divine wind sweeps in to the room to breathe the breath of God into the disciples, reminding them of the way God gave life to Adam in the beginning—taking that lifeless lump of moulded clay and animating it, making it as we say, a soul—a living being.  But this time it's God breathing life into his new Israel.  There's a reason that the one thing the disciples made sure they did during those days of waiting was to appoint Matthias as a successor to Judas.  If they were to be the new Israel, they had to be twelve.  And now the Spirit comes and breathes the life of God into this new people. But, too, the imagery of the wind filling the house.  It doesn't just recall God breathing life into Adam.  It also recalls God's presence filling the tabernacle in Exodus 40 and the temple in 1 Kings 8.  The way God gives his Spirit is a reminder that Jesus people aren't just a people full of the Spirit.  Brothers and Sisters, being full of the Spirit makes us God's temple.  Jesus and us—together we're the beginning of God's new creation, the beginning of his restoration of heaven and earth.  Jesus has ascended to heaven bearing our human flesh.  And in the Spirit, God has come to earth to dwell with us.  In us, in Jesus' people, the restoration of Eden has begun.  That's why at the head of Jesus' prayer are is that powerful petition: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. I think this is why all through the rest of Acts, stuff keeps happening at temples, whether it's the next couple of chapters as we follow the events of Pentecost and Peter preaching and thousands being baptised or later as Paul confronts the pagans in their temples in Athens and Ephesus.  All because in Jesus and his people God's real temple is being built—brick by brick, stone by stone, with each baptism…all laid on the foundation of the death and resurrection of Jesus. So the disciples already knew when Jesus rose from death that new creation had begun.  Jesus was the first part of it.  And they were so excited to go out and tell everyone that Jesus had to calm them down and tell them to wait.  Enthusiasm is never enough.  They needed to be made part of that new creation too.  And that's what the Spirit does here.  One day, when the church's work is done and Jesus returns to finally cast death itself into the lake of fire, God will raise us as he raised Jesus and we will know fully the life he intends for us.  But the time for that hasn't yet come.  The gift of the Spirit is the downpayment on that life—or to use an Old Testament term for it: the Spirit is the firstfruits of God's new creation. And that's the other part of the feast of Pentecost that comes into this.  Pentecost wasn't just the celebration of God's giving of the law to Israel.  It was also the festival where the people brought their firstfruits to God.  They brought the first of their crops—like a sheaf of wheat—not just to give thanks for the harvest, but in expectant hope of his provision—trusting him for a plentiful harvest.  From now on, for Jesus' people, Pentecost is just that: a reminder that the harvest has begun and that the Spirit is sure to make it a plentiful one. But it wasn't just the wind.  Luke goes on in verse 3: Then tongues, seemingly of fire, appeared to them, moving apart and coming to rest on each one of them.  They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them the words to say.   The wind from heaven fills them and the Spirit manifests himself as flame and then they start to speak in other languages.  Again, the big story tells us why the Spirit came this way.  Genesis explains the origin of different languages and people groups with the story of Babel.  It's the low point in human history.  Adam and Eve sin in Chapter 3, Cain murders his brother in Chapter 4, and humanity goes downhill from there until, in Chapter11, we've lost all knowledge of God.  In their hubris, the men of Babel built a tower to reach heaven and in response, the Lord confused their languages and scattered them.  It's a bit like Psalm 2 and Daniel 7 that I mentioned last week.  The nations rage, but God laughs.  But all the while he has a plan to set us to rights.  In Psalm 2 it's the son of David who will reign as king.  In Daniel 7 it's the son of man who will be enthroned by the Ancient of Days.  And here at Pentecost, the son of David who is also the son of man takes his throne and sends the Spirit who creates a people ready to undo Babel. Luke goes on in verse 5: There were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem at that time.  [Remember, because it was Pentecost.]  When they heard this noise they came together in a crowd.  They were deeply puzzled, because every single one of them could hear them speaking in his or her own native language.  They were astonished and amazed.  “These men who are doing the speaking are all Galileans, aren't they?” they said.  “So how is it that each of us can hear them in our own mother tongues?   Luke goes on to list people from countries across the whole Roman empire and some from even beyond that.  And the men hearing this go on with the most important detail, “We can hear them telling us about the mighty things God has done—in our own languages.”   What does it mean?  Brothers and Sisters, this gift of tongues to the disciples was a sign.  It was a sign that Jesus truly had ascended to his throne and he now rules over a global dominion.  And it means that through his people, through his church, Jesus has inaugurated God's new creation and has begun the work of setting everything to rights—starting with the confusion of Babel. And that's where today's Epistle ends, which is a bit disappointing.  I wish we had a Pentecost season where we could at least work through the next couple of chapters.  “What does all this mean?” they ask, and in response Peter begins to preach and he explains to the gathered men how this was all in fulfilment of God's promises.  These first eleven verses will have to be enough for today. Brothers and Sisters, Pentecost reminds us who we are.  Again, think of Israel, rescued from Egypt and then formed as a people in the wilderness—a people defined by the law and by God dwelling in their midst.  Pentecost is a reminder to us that in Jesus, God has delivered us from our bondage to sin and death and that he has made us a people defined by his new law: the life of the Spirit.  And we don't just have God in our midst; we are indwelt by God himself in the Spirit.  Pentecost is a reminder that in making us this Spirit-filled people, God has made us his temple.  We are the place where the world meets God.  But our calling isn't simply to sit here like the temple on Mount Zion and wait for people to come.  Our calling is to be a temple on the move and a temple dispersed—a temple that goes out and meets the world with God and with the gospel—with the good news that Jesus, crucified and risen, is the world's true Lord.  You and I have been entrusted with the story.  Go out and proclaim the mighty deeds of God and the Spirit will use that proclamation to change hearts and to grow the kingdom.  And, finally, Pentecost is a reminder that as God's temple, we are also the firstfruits of God's new creation.  We as a people are called to live out the life of God—not just to steward his word and to proclaim his gospel, but to truly be light in the darkness: living out and working for mercy and love and justice, showing the world the value of goodness, truth, and beauty, teaching reconciliation, bringing healing.  In other words, Brothers and Sisters, pulling God's future into the present.  Not just praying “on earth as in heaven”, but living out that prayer so that all the world will see and doing so in trusting hope that God's promise is true.  One day, when the church has done her job declaring the mighty deeds of God, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of his glory as the waters cover the sea.  That is what it means to be a “Pentecostal” people. Let's pray: O GOD, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Fr. Sean's sermon for Pentecost preached at All Saints Anglican Church in Charlottesville, Virginia on June 8, 2025.

Morning Prayer and the Lord's Supper (Whitsunday 2025) from Trinity Anglican Church (Connersville, IN)

Morning Prayer and the Lord's Supper (Whitsunday 2025) from Trinity Anglican Church (Connersville, IN)

15 If you love me, keep my commandments.Si diligitis me, mandata mea servate : 16 And I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever.et ego rogabo Patrem, et alium Paraclitum dabit vobis, ut maneat vobiscum in aeternum, 17 The spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, nor knoweth him: but you shall know him; because he shall abide with you, and shall be in you.Spiritum veritatis, quem mundus non potest accipere, quia non videt eum, nec scit eum : vos autem cognoscetis eum, quia apud vos manebit, et in vobis erit. 18 I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you.Non relinquam vos orphanos : veniam ad vos. 19 Yet a little while: and the world seeth me no more. But you see me: because I live, and you shall live.Adhuc modicum, et mundus me jam non videt. Vos autem videtis me : quia ego vivo, et vos vivetis. 20 In that day you shall know, that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.In illo die vos cognoscetis quia ego sum in Patre meo, et vos in me, et ego in vobis. 21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father: and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.Qui habet mandata mea, et servat ea : ille est qui diligit me. Qui autem diligit me, diligetur a Patre meo : et ego diligam eum, et manifestabo ei meipsum.

The Day of Pentecost (Whitsunday) - Lectionary: 06/08/2025 by Shawn Ozbun

Send us a textJoin Fr. Aaron & Marissa Burt for this week's episode, in which they consider the readings for Pentecost or Whitsunday: Genesis 11:1-9 or Acts 2:1-11(12-21); Psalm 104:24-35; Acts 2:1-11(12-21) or 1 Corinthians 12:4-13; John 14:8-17.They discuss the building of Babel & the undoing of it in Pentecost, the provision of God's presence, and Jesus's promise to send the Holy Spirit.Notes:--Dwell App--Prayers of the People for Pentecost--2019 Book of Common PrayerPentecost: A Day of Power for All People, by: Emilio AlvarezThe Bible ProjectBible Project discussion of BabelBible Project video on PentecostBible Project podcast: "Pentecost and the Expected Unexpected Spirit"1:37 Collect2:36 Genesis 11:1-917:16 Psalm 104:24-3530:14 Acts 2:1-11(12-21)44:34 John 14:8-17Find us online: X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram Our outro music is an original song by our friend Dcn. Jeremiah Webster, a poet and professor whose giftedness is rivaled by his humbleness. You can find his published works, including After So Many Fires, with a quick Google.

Steve Smith from Mackay Police Sam McIntyre from the Cowboys Jay celebrates 20 years on Triple M Mackay Free Gig Friday - Alchemunk Nitso from Weather IQ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Roads need to be fixedSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He's based in Townsville where the bulk of the rain has been happening over the weekend. Nitso gives us an update from there as well as what's expected for the Mackay & Whitsunday region this weekSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He gives an update on the amount of rain the Whitsundays have had as well as what's expected this weekendSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bienvenue sur cette 5ème saison de podcasts dédiés à l'Australie, et notamment aux backpackers Francophones. C'est Julie, qui a fait 3 PVT en Australie, qui prend le micro pour récolter les témoignages et partager les expériences de backpackers en Australie. Dans cette nouvelle saison, des backpackers témoignent et nous racontent comment l'Australie a changé leur vie, les galères du quotidien, mais aussi, les belles rencontres. On découvre aujourd'hui le témoignage de Cloé ! Elle a été masseuse dans le VIC et au Whitsunday, un endroit de rêve pour valider ses jours pour avoir sa seconde année de PVT. Elle raconte comment elle a trouvé ses jobs et quel est son quotidien ! Merci à elle pour son témoignage ! Les liens :

This is episode is part of my Folklore Friday series where I am sharing a Folklore story every Friday in 2024. How is a Tilberi Creature in Iceland formed? In the heart of Icelandic folklore, there exists a strange and eerie creature known as the *tilberi* in the north and the *snakkur* in the south and west.This mystical being is said to be the creation of witches, conjured specifically to steal milk from the farms of others. Only women have the knowledge and ability to summon and control this creature, using it to enrich their own dairy supplies.Though the origins of the tilberi stretch back into the misty past, tales of it weren't written down until the 17th century. Yet, one account from that time recalls a witch being punished in the year 1500 for possessing one. The ritual to create a tilberi is both chilling and secretive. At dawn on Whitsunday, a woman must steal a rib from a freshly buried body. She then wraps this rib in grey wool—wool that must also be stolen, plucked from a widow's sheep just after it has been sheared. For the next three Sundays, at the communion table, she spits sanctified wine onto the bundle, slowly bringing it to life with each ritual. Finally, to complete the creature's birth, she lets it suckle from the inside of her thigh, leaving a wart-like mark as a permanent reminder of the dark deed. Why is a Tilberi is Dangerous? Once created, the tilberi becomes an insatiable thief. The witch can send it out to steal milk from the cows and ewes of neighboring farms.  The creature, able to stretch itself, leaps onto the back of its target, wrapping itself around the animal to suck from one or even two teats at once. When it returns to its mistress, it perches at her dairy window and cries out, "Full belly, Mummy!" or "Churn lid off, Mummy!" before vomiting the stolen milk into her butter churn.  However, milk stolen by a tilberi bears a curse of its own. When churned, the butter forms curdled clumps or even melts into foam if a cross is made over it or a magical symbol, called the smjörhnútur (butterknot), is drawn into the mixture. How Icelander's Protected Their Livestock from a Tilberi Farmers, plagued by udder infections and other signs of a tilberi's presence, would protect their animals by making the sign of the cross beneath the cow's udder or laying a Psalter on its spine. Though the tilberi was lightning-fast, if caught or pursued, it would flee back to its witch, hiding beneath her skirts. But there was a way to stop the creature and its master. A brave soul could sew shut the petticoat of the witch, trapping both her and her creation. Then, they would meet a grim fate, either burned or drowned together, ending the dark magic for good. This legend serves as a chilling reminder of the power of superstition and the mysterious bond between the witches of old and their strange creations. Random Fact of the Episode If the woman who created the creature has a child of her own, a nightmare scenario unfolds. Should the tilberi, always hungry for milk, find its way to her breast, the consequences are dire—it may suck her dry, leading to her death. Ridding oneself of this creature, however, comes with its own perilous ritual. To banish a *tilberi*, the woman must send it on an impossible task. She orders the creature to climb the mountain and gather every lamb's dropping from the vast common pastures. In some versions of the tale, the tilberi is told to sort them into three piles, or collect all the droppings from three separate fields. But the number three is the tilberi's undoing. Being an evil creature, it cannot endure the power of this sacred number. As it toils endlessly, trying to complete the task, it either works itself to death or succumbs to the mystical force of three. In the end, only the human bone that gave it life remains, lying abandoned in the pasture, marking the creature's demise and freeing its maker from a dark an...

The bots argue argue about karate, trolleys and holidays to Japan! A big change for the Blues as James Tedesco is in for the injured Dylan Edwards and the refs have been announced for game 1. The boys review round 13 of the National Rugby League, catch up on all things French Open with our man Brett Phillips and get stuck into the caddies in Canada and Dana White going off at the judges in the UFC. AFL legend and personality Sam Newman and 4-time World Aerobics Champion Sue Stanley OAM, will set off from Queenscliff on Monday May 27, for a once in a lifetime adventure. Aboard Sam's 66-foot yacht ‘Angst', the duo will take three weeks to boat to the Whitsunday region of Queensland, spreading awareness of prostate cancer to remote regions and raising vital funds for RULE prostate cancer along the way. Scott Sattler and Mat Rogers from Sportsday join the Run Home to chat the almost finale of The Summit, Tedesco being back in for Origin Game 1 and a man trying to pork an oyster. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AFL legend and personality Sam Newman and 4-time World Aerobics Champion Sue Stanley OAM, will set off from Queenscliff on Monday May 27, for a once in a lifetime adventure. Aboard Sam's 66-foot yacht ‘Angst', the duo will take three weeks to boat to the Whitsunday region of Queensland, spreading awareness of prostate cancer to remote regions and raising vital funds for RULE prostate cancer along the way. 00:00 Sam Newman live on the boat 02:00 Why he named the boat 02:40 You Cannot Be Serious Podcast  04:00 Have you run out of conversation yet? 06:15 Turning 80 next year 07:00 Diagnosed with prostate cancer 08:40 Getting a check up regularly 09:20 Following the AFL still? 10:15 Dear Gerrard 17:00 Whale watching on the boat? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whitsunday: The Day of Pentecost ORISON: O Lord, give thy Holy Spirit – Thomas Tallis (c. 1505-1585) PSALM 104:24-35 – David Hurd (b. 1950) HYMN: Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire (Tune: VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS)– Plainsong, Mode VII NUNC DIMITTIS – John Munday (c. 1555-1630) ANTHEM: Come down, O Love divine – Jeff Junkinsmith (b. 1956) […]

Mother Elizabeth Marie Melchionna

Anna Claire Isbell, Leland Champion, Elizabeth John, Jack Teasley

May 19, 2024 - Confirmation - The Day of Pentecost: Whitsunday - The Rt. Rev. Poulson Reed by All Souls' Episcopal Church

Acts 2:1-21or Ezekiel 37:1-14Romans 8:22-27or Acts 2:1-21John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15Psalm 104:25-35, 37The CollectAlmighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.or thisO God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.Amen.The First LessonActs 2:1-21When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs-- in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power." All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:`In the last days it will be, God declares,that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,and your young men shall see visions,and your old men shall dream dreams.Even upon my slaves, both men and women,in those days I will pour out my Spirit;and they shall prophesy.And I will show portents in the heaven aboveand signs on the earth below,blood, and fire, and smoky mist.The sun shall be turned to darknessand the moon to blood,before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' "orEzekiel 37:1-14The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will...

Andrew++ preaches on Whitsunday

A Sermon for Whitsunday Acts 2:1-11 by William Klock “Are we there yet?  Are we there yet?  Are we there yet?  How about now…now are we there yet?”  As you read the Gospels the disciples' questions about the kingdom of God feel a bit like that.  All Jesus needed was one of them kicking the back of his seat on the way to Jerusalem.  “When will the kingdom come?  How long?  Are we there yet?  Is it almost time, Jesus?”  But it wasn't just the disciples.  It was First Century Judaism.  Pretty much everyone was on the edge of their seat with anticipation for the kingdom.  Everyone except the Sadducees, because of course, they were sitting on the top of the heap, already in control of everything.  They'd already arrived and weren't particularly interested in anything that might upset the status quo.  But even then, they knew it was the Romans who were really calling the shots, so I suspect even the Sadducees were thinking “Are we there yet?”  They just didn't say it out loud.  Everyone knew it was time.  It had to be.  And that sense was even stronger for the disciples, because they knew Jesus was the Messiah—the one come to usher in God's kingdom and to set the world to rights.  So if the Messiah had come—well—the kingdom had to be really close. And so Luke, as he opens the book of Acts with the Ascension of Jesus, he tells us of Jesus' promise to his friends: “Don't go back to Galilee.  Stay in Jerusalem.  As John baptised you with water, in a few days I will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.”  But they hadn't asked Jesus about the Holy Spirit.  They wanted to know when the kingdom was coming, because it had to be soon.  And so even as Jesus was leading them up the Mount of Olives and about to ascend to his throne, they were pestering him, “Is this the time?  Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?”  And, remember, in answer to their question Jesus ascended, up on the clouds, into heaven, to take up his throne, to rule and to reign. And as he did that, he commissioned his disciples to do something that I don't think they expected.  He commissioned them to be his royal heralds, to go out and to proclaim this good news to Jerusalem, to Judea, even to Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth.  Now, this wasn't the first time Jesus had sent his disciples out to proclaim the kingdom, but when he'd sent them out before, it was to a people who were also asking those “Are we there yet?” questions.  The disciples had gone out and told the people that in Jesus the Messiah had come and that the kingdom was in sight.  But now Jesus is sending them out to proclaim that in his resurrection and ascension the kingdom has come and that was no small task.  Because even though the disciples had seen their risen Lord and even though they saw him ascend to his throne, this wasn't how anyone expected the kingdom to arrive.  They thought everyone would be resurrected all at once.  They though the Messiah would put down the enemies of God's people and cast down their empires.  They expected a king like David who would punish evil, wipe away all the problems, and make everything as it should be.  Instead, the wrong people were still in control, evil people still did evil things, so much was still wrong with the world—and yet Jesus had inaugurated something, he really had risen from the dead, and they'd seen him ascend to his throne with their own eyes, so they knew he was truly Lord and that the kingdom had come.  The Lord's plan was to work through them, to spread the good news and to tell the world that Jesus is Lord, and to grow the kingdom.  That wasn't what anyone expected, but they should have, because that's how the Lord had been working in the world ever since he called Abraham out of the land of Ur and set him apart from everyone else, and made him and his family a witness to the world—that one day, through this people, the whole earth would know the Lord and his greatness and his goodness and his faithfulness and come to give him glory. I wonder if we, too, don't forget this sometimes.  We might know better deep down, but we kind of assume that the Christian life is, more or less, a personal thing.  We raise our kids in it.  Maybe we talk to a few close people about it.  But we act as if our duty is mostly just to be good, godly people until Jesus comes back and sets everything to rights—as if he's the one who's going to make it all happen by doing all the hard work.  Sure, there are some people called to be missionaries who go off to faraway places where they've never heard of Jesus, but for most of us, it's just a quiet, personal, individual sort of thing.  Even the dominant eschatology of our day assumes that things will just get worse and worse until Jesus zaps us all out of here and rains down fire and brimstone on this awful, corrupt world.  But that's never what the story was about and that's never where it was headed.  The Lord called and created a people to make him known with the expectation that eventually that people—not in their own power, but in his—but that people would really make him known until, as the prophets Isaiah and Habakkuk both said, the knowledge of his glory would cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Maybe we forget our part in this kingdom mission because it seems so impossible.  What?  Us?  Grow the kingdom until the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth?  What?  Us?  Bring the nations to give him glory?  That's too big for us?  We'll just be holy over here and wait for Jesus to come back and do the impossible stuff.  And at this point, Jesus' disciples had no idea just how big and impossible the task was.  Taking the gospel to the gentiles wasn't even on their radar.  They were still thinking it was a message for Jews.  It would be some years before the full extent of it even sank in.  And this is why Jesus told his friends to stay in Jerusalem and to wait.  In his resurrection he was vindicated as the Messiah.  In his ascension he took his throne and sent the clear message that the kingdom has come.  But before the disciples could go on with the work of the kingdom, they needed something that God's people had never had before—at least not in this way.  They needed the power of the Holy Spirit to truly be the new Israel, to carry on the mission the Lord had given to Abraham and Isaac, and to all of Israel: to bless the nations by making him known to them.  Without the Spirit, Jesus' disciples would have the same problem God's people had always had and after a time, when the excitement wore off, they would become fickle and faithless and their loyalties would be divided and they would fall into sin and the nations would mock them, this time jeering, “Where's your Messiah now?”  No, they needed this gift of the indwelling Spirit to set their hearts on God and to write his law of love on their hearts—truly transforming their affections.  And it was this Spirit who would empower them to go out into a hostile world with the good news about Jesus and to live out his love and his grace and his justice, carrying the kingdom to the ends of the earth.  That's why they had to wait in Jerusalem. I don't think they really had any idea what was about to happen.  They didn't even really understand the full extent of the mission he'd given them.  They were just excited because of his resurrection and his ascension and Luke says that while they waited in Jerusalem that they spent their time in the temple praising and blessing God.  And then comes our Epistle today.  Look at Acts 2.  Luke writes, When the day of Pentecost arrived…   Let's stop there.  This isn't an incidental detail.  It's integral to the story.  As integral as Jesus having been born a Jew.  As integral as his death and resurrection taking place at Passover.  “Pentecost” means “fiftieth” in Greek.  Greek-speaking Jews gave the festival this name because it fell fifty days after Passover, but its biblical name was the “feast of weeks” and it was connected with the wheat harvest.  It was when the Lord commanded his people to bring him their firstfruits.  That's the very first part of the harvest.  It was an offering to the Lord and it was an act of faith on their part.  Other peoples brought offerings to their gods after the harvest had been brought in, once they knew what they could spare.  But Israel gave in faith from the very first of the harvest, trusting the Lord to give the rest.  So Pentecost was a feast of expectation and faith. But Pentecost was also the feast when Israel celebrated the giving of the law, the torah, at Mt. Sinai.  That's where the significance of “fifty” comes from.  Again, it follows fifty days after Passover and you'll remember that Passover commemorated Israel's exodus from Egypt: their slavery, Moses and the Lord's command to Pharaoh, “Let my people go!”, the plagues, the blood on the doorposts, the sparing of Israel's firstborn sons, the flight from Egypt, the rescue at the Red Sea.  Passover was a festival of the Lord's deliverance of his people and it celebrated that great event in which Israel was born as a nation.  And each generation participated in those events anew as they gathered year in and year out in their homes to share the Passover meal.  It marked them out as the Lord's covenant people. But that wasn't the end of the story.  From the Red Sea, the Lord led his people into the wilderness and fifty days later he gave them his law.  He called Moses up to Mt. Sinai and when Moses came back down he brough the law with him, carved on stone tablets.  In the Exodus the Lord had made Israel his people.  At Mt. Sinai he showed them what it meant and what it looked like to be his people.  So at Passover the Jews celebrated their redemption.  At Pentecost they remembered that the Lord had redeemed them for a purpose: to live a new kind of life in order to fulfil his purposes and their calling. Can you see how this all fits together with the events of the Gospels?  Easter is our Passover, when we remember how, through Jesus, the Lord redeemed us from our bondage to sin and death and made us his people.  And now, on Pentecost—this is our Mt. Sinai.  Let's continue with Acts 2: When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.  And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.   In Exodus we're given an awesome picture of the holiness of God as his presence descended on the mountain in smoke and fire and thunder, and here the Spirit comes again like a storm, in this mighty rushing wind and fire descends upon his people.  And here Luke tells this new story to parallel the old.  As Moses went up on the mountain to the Lord, so Jesus has ascended into heaven.  And now Luke wants us to understand that Jesus, just as he promised he would, has come back down.  Moses came down with tablets of stone to tell the people how to live as the Lord's covenant people.  And now Jesus has returned, he's come down from heaven in the person of the Holy Spirit, to write his law of love on the very hearts of his people. Don't misunderstand.  That doesn't mean that Israel had a harsh and rigid law written on stone and that Jesus' people just “follow their hearts” or something like that.  There's a sense in which that's true, but definitely not in the sense that the world talks about following your heart.  Following our hearts is what got us into trouble and made a mess of this world, because apart from Jesus and the Spirit our hearts are set on sin and self.  That's the point here.  The law written on stone showed Israel how to live as God's holy people, but it couldn't change the affections of their hearts.  The Spirit, on the other hand, takes away the need for those stone tablets by changing our very hearts, filling them with a love for God and a desire for holiness, and by turning us away from sin and from self. And notice how the wind and the fire come from heaven.  Through the Spirit the creative and renewing power of the Lord—the very breath that he breathed into humanity to give us life in the first place—it descends on his people to accomplish his work on earth.  Jesus taught his disciples to pray “on earth as it is in heaven” and Pentecost was the firstfruits of an answer to that prayer.  Sometimes Christians treat the presence and gifts of the Holy Spirit as things that raise us up above the world or that make the world irrelevant, but it's really just the opposite.  The Spirit is the life-giving breath of God that gives us a foretaste of the resurrection and of the life we hope for one day in this world set to rights.  As the Spirit sets our hearts on God, he makes us the “on earth as it is in heaven” people, the people who not only show the world what God's kingdom looks like, but who actually live out his kingdom and its values of love and grace and mercy and justice in the midst of a world that values all the opposites of those things. But the first manifestation of the Spirit's “on earth as it is in heaven” ministry is what we see here.  Luke says, first, that Jesus' people were all together when this happened—they were united—and then the first manifestation of the Spirit was this amazing speech in other languages.  But what exactly was it?  Let's keep reading from verse 5: Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.  And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.  And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?  And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?  Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”   Jews had spread out across the known world and festivals like Passover and Pentecost brough them back to Jerusalem.  The Spirit came on Jesus' disciples with fire and the sound of a mighty rushing wind, but what everyone else couldn't help but notice was the ruckus they made as they began to speak in these other languages.  And it got their attention.  The disciples were a bunch of rubes from Galilee, way up north, or at least that's how people in Jerusalem would have seen them.  Galileans spoke Aramaic and Greek—the local languages—but they weren't cosmopolitan enough to speak all these other languages.  And yet these men visiting Jerusalem from places like Egypt and Asia and even from places like Parthia, beyond the borders of the empire, heard these Galileans speaking in their own languages.  That made them stop and take note.  But what they were saying caught their attention even more.  Luke says they were telling of the mighty works of God.  In the context here that can mean only one thing.  They were proclaiming the good news about Jesus.  That he had come proclaiming the kingdom and calling the people to repentance, that he had been crucified, that he had risen from the dead, and that he had ascended, and is now Lord—and maybe most of all, that he had done this in fulfilment of the Lord's promises and to show the Lord's faithfulness.  Many of these visitors had, no doubt, heard about Jesus and how he'd been crucified just a few weeks before.  Some of them had probably heard rumors that he'd risen from the dead.  If they'd been spending any time around the temple, they would have heard and seen the disciples praising God for what he had done in Jesus—and they probably thought they were crazy.   But now they hear these bumpkins from Galilee declaring the might works of God miraculously in their own languages and they stop.  And they listen.  And some of them, Luke says, sneered at the disciples thinking they were drunk.  But that's when—if we were to continue on from today's Epistle in Chapter 2—that's when Peter stood up addressed them, saying, “It's nine o'clock in the morning.  It's hardly the time of day for men to be drunk.  No, what you're seeing is the fulfilment of the words spoken by the prophet Joel when he told of the Lord's promise to pour out his Spirit and to redeem his people.  And Peter went on to tell the men there, again, of the mighty deeds of God: of Jesus, of his death, of his resurrection, and his ascension.  And he walked the men through the scriptures they knew so well and through the promises the Lord had made to his people, and he showed how Jesus had and was fulfilling them.  He finished his sermon, Luke says, proclaiming: “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.”  (Acts 2:36) And the men who were listening were cut to the heart and cried out to Peter, “What should we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus the Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”  And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”  So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:38-41) The “on earth as it is in heaven” people began to grow.  The rest of the book of Acts is Luke's testimony to the mighty deeds of God through these people, empowered by Jesus and the Spirit.  We see the gospel—and with it the kingdom—going out from Jerusalem, to Judea, and then to Samaria, where it united Jews and Samaritans for the first time.  And then we see it go out to the nations, to the gentiles, the book ending with Paul proclaiming the good news about Jesus in Rome, right under Caesar's nose.  And Acts shows us churches sprouting up across the world.  Acts is the firstfruits of the kingdom harvest—a harvest that would, eventually include the whole Roman Empire and beyond.  And, Brothers and Sisters, Pentecost reminds us how.  Without it we might be tempted to give up, to retreat into the church building, and wait for Jesus to come and do it all himself.  But Pentecost reminds us that going all the way back to Abraham, the Lord has been calling and creating and empowering a people to make him known to a world lost in darkness, a people to be light, a people—like the disciples that day in Jerusalem—to proclaim to the world the mighty deeds of the God of Israel.  A people to proclaim the good news that in this Jesus who was crucified, who has risen from the dead, and who has ascended to his throne to rule and reign, that he is and that he will set this world to rights.  But, maybe most importantly, Pentecost reminds us that Jesus has called us and made us this people, not only to go out and to tell, but to go out and live and to do and to make and to build and to show his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.  We do that as we live the fruit the Spirit has given and as we show the world, in real, practical, hands-on ways what God's new creation is like, living his love and his mercy and his grace and his justice and working for those things in the world.  It is an impossible task, but Pentecost also reminds us that we are not called to do it in our own power or on our own terms, but as we are empowered and guided by Jesus and the Spirit. Let's pray: O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Morning Prayer and the Lord's Supper (Whitsunday 2024) --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/1662pod/support

Fr. Sean McDermott's sermon for Whitsunday preached at All Saints Anglican Church in Charlottesville, VA on May 19, 2024.

Texts: Acts 2:1ff, John 14:15ff, 1 Corinthians 12:4ff, Luke 11:9ff

Morning Prayer and the Lord's Supper (Whitsunday 2024) --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/1662pod/support

This Sunday is Pentecost or "Whitsunday" as it is known in the English tradition and in the Book of Common Prayer. There are lots of proper readings for this week. The Communion Propers are Acts 2:1-11 and St. John 14:15-31. There are also proper Psalms and a proper First and Second Lesson for Morning and Evening Prayer. The BCP ties in diverse themes to show how Pentecost is an eschatological event where the Spirit makes God's dwelling place in man once again, but this time through the conversion of His people. Pentecost also brings in the nations, as the kingdom of the Messiah expands beyond Israel to the ends of the earth.

In this episode, we consider the readings for the Day of Pentecost (or Whitsunday), Year B in the Lectionary cycle: Acts 2:1-21 or Ezekiel 37:1-14; Psalm 104:25-37; Romans 8:22-27 or Acts 2:1-21; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15We tackle all the reading choices for Pentecost! We consider Paul's iconic words about the world, ourselves & the Spirit groaning in sorrow while waiting in hope, resurrection breath alighting on the Valley of the Dry Bones, the Psalmist's playful wonder at God's creation, the events of Pentecost Day, and Jesus' teaching on the promised Advocate. Notes:--Dwell App--Metrical Collect for Whit-Sunday--Trailer for 2010 documentary "Babies"The Bible Project--Bible Project's video overview of Acts--Bible Project's video overview of Pentecost--Bible Project's video overview of Joel--Bible Project podcast episode on Israel's feasts--Bible Project podcast episode on the Seven Festivals9:01 Collect10:41 Romans 8:22-27 21:57  Ezekiel 37:1-1434:18 Psalm 104:25-37 46:25 Acts 2:1-21 55:44 John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15 Our outro music is an original song by our friend Dcn. Jeremiah Webster, a poet and professor whose giftedness is rivaled by his humbleness. You can find his published works, including After So Many Fires, with a quick Google.

This week falls in between the Ascension and Whitsunday. The Collect ties both days together, and the readings focus on how the Holy Spirit equips us for the coming conflict of evangelism and spiritual warfare. The Epistle reading is 1 Peter 4:7:11, instructing us on to live in charity even in the face of divine judgment. The Gospel reading is St. John 15:24-16:4, where Jesus explains that the Holy Spirit will enable us to persevere and bear witness, even in the face of persecution. The Old Testament lessons are Deut. 12 and 13, two lessons about fighting false worship and false prophets during the conquest.

In today's Australian Lure Fishing podcast episode I delve into the world of GT fishing in the Whitsundays. In this session, I'm joined by Jack Avery, a seasoned angler with a decade of experience targeting Giant Trevally in this iconic region. Discover the secrets to locating and landing these powerful fish as Jack shares his expert insights on the best fishing spots, ideal conditions, and most effective techniques for GT fishing in the Whitsundays. Whether you're a seasoned angler or a novice, this episode is packed with valuable tips on gear selection, lure usage, and handling the physical challenges of battling GTs. Tune in to enhance your fishing prowess and get ready for your next big catch in the Whitsundays! ______________ Keen for more detailed fishing advice? Why not support the Australian Lure Fishing Podcast by joining Team Doc Lures? Aside from ensuring you'll hear more podcast episodes for years to come, you'll also get access to exclusive members-only content, tools and resources. Check it out at https://team.doclures.com ______________ For more episodes about fishing in the Airlie Beach and Whitsunday's are, check out our archive: https://doclures.com/whitsundays-and-airlie-beach-fishing/ Or, head over to our GT fishing episodes here: https://doclures.com/giant-trevally/ And of course you can access the show notes for today's episode here: https://doclures.com/gt-fishing-whitsundays/  

Whitsunday sakini Mehmet İçbudak, kasırganın vermesi muhtemel zararın herkesi endişelendirdiğini söylüyor.

May 28, 2023 - The Day of Pentecost: Whitsunday Sunday - Fr. Andrew Johnson by All Souls' Episcopal Church

Fr. Glenn Spencer's sermon for Whitsunday preached at All Saints Anglican Church on May 28, 2023.

Whitsunday; The Day of Pentecost ORISON: O Lord, give thy Holy Spirit – Thomas Tallis (c. 1505-1585) PSALM 104:25-32, 35-37 – Peter R. Hallock (1924–2014) HYMN: O Holy Spirit (Tune: DRUMCORDA) – David Frederick Ruddell Wilson (1871-1957); arr. Gregory Bloch (b. 1977) NUNC DIMITTIS – Plainsong, Tone VI; harm. Lodovico Grossi da Viadana (ca. 1560 – […]

Mother Arsene speaks on the day of Pentecost, or Whitsunday.

Fr. Hayden

Mother Watts - Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104:25-35,37; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13; John 20:19-23

Whitsunday: The On-Earth-As-In-Heaven People Acts 2:1-11 by William Klock Last week as we remembered Jesus' ascension we read Luke's account of the risen Jesus and his final days with the disciples.  He writes in Acts 1: And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.  (Acts 1:4-5) That was all just fine, but what they really wanted to know was when the kingdom was coming.  For years they'd been asking it in one way or another: When will you bring the kingdom?  When will you take your throne?  When will you set the world to rights?  Are we there yet?  How much further?  And, remember, in answer to their question Jesus ascended, up on the clouds, into heaven, to take up his throne, to rule and to reign. And as he did that, he commissioned his disciples to do something that I don't think they expected.  He commissioned them to be his royal heralds, to go out and to proclaim this good news to Jerusalem, to Judea, even to Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth.  Now, this wasn't the first time Jesus had sent his disciples out to proclaim the kingdom, but when he'd sent them out before, it was to a people who were also asking those “Are we there yet?” questions: When will the Messiah come?  When will the kingdom come?  When will the God of Israel set this broken world to rights?.  And the disciples went out and told the people that in Jesus the Messiah had come and that the kingdom was in sight.  But now Jesus is sending them out to proclaim that in his resurrection and ascension the kingdom has come and that was no small task.  Because even though the disciples had seen their risen Lord and even though they saw him ascend, things weren't what they or anyone else had expected.  They thought everyone would be resurrected all at once.  They though the Messiah would put down the enemies of God's people and cast down their empires.  They expected a king like David who would punish evil, wipe away all the problems, and make everything as it should be.  Instead, the wrong people were still in control, evil people still did evil things, so much was still wrong with the world—and yet Jesus had inaugurated something, he really had risen from the dead, and they'd seen him ascend to his throne with their own eyes, so they knew he was truly Lord and that the kingdom had come.  The Lord's plan was to work through them, to spread the good news and to tell the world that Jesus is Lord, and to grow the kingdom.  That wasn't what anyone expected, but they should have, because that's how the Lord had been working in the world ever since he called Abraham out of the land of Ur and set him apart from everyone else, and made him and his family a witness to the world—that one day, through this people, the whole earth would know the Lord and his greatness and his goodness and his faithfulness and come to give him glory. I wonder if we, too, don't forget this sometimes.  We might know better deep down, but we kind of assume that the Christian life is, more or less, a personal thing.  We raise our kids in it.  Maybe we talk to a few close people about it.  But we act as if our duty is mostly just to be good, godly people until Jesus comes back and sets everything to rights—as if he's the one who's going to make it all happen by doing all the hard work.  Sure, there are some people called to be missionaries who go off to faraway places where they've never heard of Jesus, but for most of us, it's just a personal, individual sort of thing.  Even the dominant eschatology of our day assumes that things will just get worse and worse until Jesus zaps us all out of here and rains down fire and brimstone on this awful, corrupt world.  But that's never what the story was about and that's never where it was headed.  The Lord called and created a people to make him known with the expectation that eventually that people—not in their own power, but in his—but that people would really make him known until, as the prophets Isaiah and Habakkuk both said, the knowledge of his glory would cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Maybe we forget our part in this kingdom mission because it seems so impossible.  What?  Us?  Grow the kingdom until the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth?  What?  Us?  Bring the nations to give him glory?  That's too big for us?  We'll just be holy over here and wait for Jesus to come back and do the impossible stuff.  And at this point, Jesus' disciples had no idea just how big and impossible the task was.  Taking the gospel to the gentiles wasn't even on their radar.  They were still thinking it was a message for Jews.  It would be a few years before the full extent of it even sank in.  And this is why Jesus told his friends to stay in Jerusalem and to wait.  In his resurrection he was vindicated as the Messiah.  In his ascension he took his throne and sent the clear message that the kingdom has come.  But before the disciples could go on with the work of the kingdom, they needed something that God's people had never had before—at least not in this way.  They needed the power of the Holy Spirit to truly be the new Israel, to carry on the mission the Lord had given to Abraham and Isaac, and to all of Israel: to bless the nations by making him known to them.  Without the Spirit, Jesus' disciples would have the same problem God's people had always had and after a time, when the excitement wore off, they would become fickle and faithless and their loyalties would be divided and they would fall into sin and the nations would mock them, this time jeering, “Where's your Jesus now?”  No, they needed this gift of the indwelling Spirit to set their hearts on God and to write his law of love on their hearts—truly transforming their affections.  And it was this Spirit who would empower them to go out into a hostile world with the good news about Jesus and to live out his love and his grace and his justice, carrying the kingdom to the ends of the earth.  That's why they had to wait in Jerusalem. I don't think they really had any idea what was about to happen.  They didn't even really understand the full extent of the mission he'd given them.  They were just excited because of his resurrection and his ascension and Luke says that while they waited in Jerusalem that they spent their time in the temple praising and blessing God.  And then comes our Epistle today.  Look at Acts 2.  Luke writes, When the day of Pentecost arrived…   Let's stop there.  This isn't an incidental detail.  It's integral to the story.  As integral as Jesus having been born a Jew.  As integral as his death and resurrection taking place at Passover.  “Pentecost” just means “fiftieth” in Greek.  Greek-speaking Jews gave the festival this name because it fell fifty days after Passover, but its biblical name was the “feast of weeks” and it was connected with the wheat harvest.  It was when the Lord commanded his people to bring him their firstfruits.  That's the very first part of the harvest.  It was an offering to the Lord and it was an act of faith on their part.  Other peoples brought offerings to their gods after the harvest had been brought in, once they knew what they could spare.  But Israel gave in faith from the very first of the harvest, trusting the Lord to give the rest.  So Pentecost was a feast of expectation and faith. But Pentecost was also the feast when Israel celebrated the giving of the law, the torah, at Mt. Sinai.  That's where the significance of “fifty” comes from.  Again, it follows fifty days after Passover and you'll remember that Passover commemorated Israel's exodus from Egypt: their slavery, Moses and the Lord's command to Pharaoh, “Let my people go!”, the plagues, the blood on the doorposts, the sparing of Israel's firstborn sons, the flight from Egypt, the rescue at the Red Sea.  Passover was a festival of the Lord's deliverance of his people and it celebrated that great even in which Israel was born as a nation.  And each generation participated in those events anew as they gathered year in and year out in their homes to share the Passover meal.  It marked them out as the Lord's covenant people. But that wasn't the end of the story.  From the Red Sea, the Lord led his people into the wilderness and fifty days later he gave them his law.  He called Moses up to Mt. Sinai and when Moses came back down he brough the law with him, carved on stone tablets.  In the Exodus the Lord had made Israel his people.  At Mt. Sinai he showed them what it meant and what it looked like to be his people.  So at Passover the Jews celebrated their redemption.  At Pentecost they remembered that the Lord had redeemed them for a purpose: to live a new kind of life in order to fulfil his purposes and their calling. Can you see how this all fits together with the events of the Gospels?  Easter is our Passover, when we remember how, through Jesus, the Lord redeemed us from our bondage to sin and death and made us his people.  And now, on Pentecost—this is our Mt. Sinai.  Let's continue with Acts 2: When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.  And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.   In Exodus we're given an awesome picture of the holiness of God as his presence descended on the mountain in smoke and fire and thunder, and here the Spirit comes again like a storm, in this mighty rushing wind and fire descends upon his people.  And here Luke tells this new story to parallel the old.  As Moses went up on the mountain to the Lord, so Jesus has ascended into heaven.  And now Luke wants us to understand that Jesus, just as he promised he would, has come back down.  Moses came down with tablets of stone to tell the people how to live as the Lord's covenant people.  And now Jesus has returned, he's come down from heaven in the person of the Holy Spirit, to write his law of love on the very hearts of his people. Don't misunderstand.  That doesn't mean that Israel had a harsh and rigid law written on stone and that Jesus' people just “follow their hearts” or something like that.  There's a sense in which that's true, but definitely not in the sense that the world talks about following your heart.  Following our hearts is what has got us into trouble and made a mess of this world, because apart from Jesus and the Spirit our hearts are set on sin and self.  That's the point here.  The law written on stone showed Israel how to live as God's holy people, but it couldn't change the affections of their hearts.  The Spirit, on the other hand, takes away the need for those stone tablets by changing our very hearts, filling them with a love for God and a desire for holiness, and by turning us away from sin and from self. And notice how the wind and the fire come from heaven.  Through the Spirit the creative and renewing power of the Lord—the very breath that he breathed into humanity to give us life in the first place—it descends on his people to accomplish his work on earth.  Jesus taught his disciples to pray “on earth as it is in heaven” and Pentecost was the firstfruits of an answer to that prayer.  Sometimes Christians treat the presence and gifts of the Holy Spirit as things that raise us up above the world or that make the world irrelevant, but it's really just the opposite.  The Spirit is the life-giving breath of God that gives us a foretaste of the resurrection and of the life we hope for one day in this world set to rights.  As the Spirit sets our hearts on God, he makes us the “on earth as it is in heaven” people, the people who not only show the world what God's kingdom looks like, but who actually live out his kingdom and its values of love and grace and mercy and justice in the midst of a world that values all the opposites of those things. But the first manifestation of the Spirit's “on earth as it is in heaven” ministry is what we see here.  Luke says, first, that Jesus' people were all together when this happened—they were united—and then the first manifestation of the Spirit was this amazing speech in other languages.  But what exactly was it?  Let's keep reading from verse 5: Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.  And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.  And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?  And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?  Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”   Jews had spread out across the known world and festivals like Passover and Pentecost brough them back to Jerusalem.  The Spirit came on Jesus' disciples with fire and the sound of a mighty rushing wind, but what everyone else couldn't help but notice was the ruckus they made as they began to speak in these other languages.  And it got their attention.  The disciples were a bunch of rubes from Galilee, way up north, or at least that's how people in Jerusalem would have seen them.  Galileans spoke Aramaic and Greek—the local languages—but they weren't cosmopolitan enough to speak all these other languages.  And yet these men visiting Jerusalem from places like Egypt and Asia and even from places like Parthia, beyond the borders of the empire, heard these Galileans speaking in their own languages.  That made them stop and take note.  But what they were saying caught their attention even more.  Luke says they were telling of the mighty works of God.  In the context here that can mean only one thing.  They were proclaiming the good news about Jesus.  That he had come proclaiming the kingdom and calling the people to repentance, that he had been crucified, that he had risen from the dead, and that he had ascended, and is now Lord—and maybe most of all, that he had done this in fulfilment of the Lord's promises and to show the Lord's faithfulness.  Many of these visitors had, no doubt, heard about Jesus and how he'd been crucified just a few weeks before.  Some of them had probably heard rumors that he'd risen from the dead.  If they'd been spending any time around the temple, they would have heard and seen the disciples praising God for what he had done in Jesus—and they probably thought they were crazy.   But now they hear these bumpkins from Galilee declaring the might works of God miraculously in their own languages and they stop.  And they listen.  And some of them, Luke says, sneered at the disciples thinking they were drunk.  But that's when—if we were to continue on from today's Epistle in Chapter 2—that's when Peter stood up addressed them, saying, “It's nine o'clock in the morning.  It's hardly the time of day for men to be drunk.  No, what you're seeing is the fulfilment of the words spoken by the prophet Joel when he spoke of the Lord's promise to pour out his Spirit and to redeem his people.  And Peter went on to tell the men there, again, of the might y deed of God: of Jesus, of his death, of his resurrection, and his ascension.  And he walked the men through the scriptures they knew so well and through the promises the Lord had made to his people, and he showed how Jesus had and was fulfilling them.  He finished his sermon, Luke says, proclaiming: “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”  (Acts 2:36) And the men who were listening were cut to the heart and cried out to Peter, “What should we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”  And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”  So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:38-41) The “on earth as it is in heaven” people began to grow.  The rest of the book of Acts is Luke's testimony to the mighty deeds of God through these people, empowered by Jesus and the Spirit.  We see the gospel—and with it the kingdom—going out from Jerusalem, to Judea, and then to Samaria, where it united Jews and Samaritans for the first time.  And then see it go out to the nations, to the gentiles, the book ending with Paul proclaiming the good news about Jesus in Rome, right under Caesar's nose.  And Acts shows us churches sprouting up across the world.  Acts is the firstfruits of the kingdom harvest—a harvest that would, eventually include the whole Roman Empire and beyond.  And, Brothers and Sisters, Pentecost reminds us how.  Without it we might be tempted to give up, to retreat into the church building, and wait for Jesus to come and do it all himself.  But Pentecost reminds us that going all the way back to Abraham, the Lord has been calling and creating and empowering a people to make him known to a world lost in darkness, a people to be light, a people—like the disciples that day in Jerusalem—to proclaim to the world the mighty deeds of the God of Israel.  A people to proclaim the good news that in this Jesus who was crucified, who has risen from the dead, and who has ascended to his throne to rule and reign, that he is and that he will set this world to rights.  But, maybe most importantly, Pentecost reminds us that Jesus has called us and made us this people, not only to go out and to tell, but to go out and live and to do and to make and to build and to show his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.  We do that as we live the fruit the Spirit has given and as we show the world, in real, practical, hands-on ways what God's new creation is like, living his love and his mercy and his grace and his justice and working for those things in the world.  It is an impossible task, but Pentecost also reminds us that we are not called to do it in our own power or on our own terms, but as we are empowered and guided by Jesus and the Spirit. Let's pray: O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Bulletin: https://bit.ly/Pentecost-23 Congregation at Prayer: https://bit.ly/CaP-230528 Substack: https://ctkspencer.substack.com/

Texts: Acts 2, John 14, Romans 7-8

Of all the Christian holidays, the one that surprises me the most is Pentecost. It surprises me that every Christian does not observe it. After all, it is the birthday of the New Testament church. It is the day the Holy Spirit fell on the church in power. You would think that if they are going to celebrate anything, they would have an important anniversary every year at Pentecost.On the other hand, it is a fact that more than half of all Christendom observes Pentecost. In England it is a national holiday, called Whitsunday, or White Sunday—because of the custom of wearing white for baptism, and the large numbers of baptisms on Pentecost. But most American churches remain blissfully unaware of Pentecost. It is a word they attach to a charismatic movement that includes speaking in tongues. They don't think of it as a day. And yet Pentecost is definitely a Christian holiday.There is a curious thing about Pentecost, though. The word Pentecost is a Greek word that means Fiftieth. The fiftieth what? Well, since it is the day of Pentecost it would seem to mean the Fiftieth day. But the fiftieth day from what? To tell you that story, I have to paint in a little background. The basic scripture that outlines all these holidays is the 23rd chapter of Leviticus.

In this episode, we consider the readings for the Day of Pentecost (or Whitsunday), Year A in the Lectionary cycle: Acts 2:1-21 or Numbers 11:24-30; Psalm 104:25-37; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 or Acts 2:1-21; John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39.We tackle all the reading choices for Pentecost! We consider Jesus' breathing on the disciples & giving them His Spirit and the authority to forgive or retain forgiveness as well as His invitation for the thirsty to come to Him. We discuss Paul's teaching about the way the Holy Spirit gifts the body and unifies them in purpose. We linger with the Psalm and the playful descriptions of creation. And we read the account of the Spirit falling on the 70 elders in the wilderness, including the two who stayed home that day. And we conclude, of course, with a look at Acts 2 and the events of Pentecost Day. **Correction: we mention in passing that Pentecost is linked with  Sukkot, or the Feast of Booths—one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. This is incorrect. Pentecost occurs when people were making pilgrimage to celebrate Shavuot, or the Feast of Weeks.**Notes:--Dwell App--Metrical Collect for Whit-Sunday--Like Dew Your Youth: Growing Up With Your Teenager, by: Eugene Peterson--Ascension Day is traditionally always on a Thursday, the fortieth day after the resurrection, though many churches will celebrate it on the Sunday following.--We recommended Dcn. Jeremiah Webster's recent book Follow the Devil/Follow the Light a few episodes ago, and Goodreads is running a giveaway for it through June 15The Bible Project--Bible Project's video overview of Acts--Bible Project's video overview of Pentecost--Bible Project's video overview of Joel--Bible Project discussion of the ascension of Jesus6:12 Collect6:52  John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39 29:00  1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 45:44  Psalm 104:25-37 52:42  Num Our outro music is an original song by our friend Dcn. Jeremiah Webster, a poet and professor whose giftedness is rivaled by his humbleness. You can find his published works, including After So Many Fires, with a quick Google.

Usually in these captions we try to inspire you listen to the show, but on this weeks show, the first half of the show is a tale of two entwined travellers named Kyle and Voltron. KV as the charismatic duo will now be referred to as, set upon their annual sojourn to Queensland's Whitsunday region. This show captures the highs and the lows of this years trip that clearly highlights that adventure is not for everyone. Hear tales of the one that got a way, survival of incredible weather events, true bonds made with local legends, the wild animals that live on the land and a plethora of lutjanids that requires Google to makes sense of it all, not to mention big blue blobs in shallow water.  Also on this show we talk about some new Australian inventions entering the fly tying market, tales of woe and success with electric motors and the legends at Minn Repairs who sort them out , our new show sponsor and why we have ditched sponsors in the past and why we work with others, all this and chat about a new Vlog concept that we just might run with... we want to know your thoughts. It might seem like a lightweight show if you have read this far... but I can tell you that this show is a dense as Voltzy's pelt and we know you will enjoy this one.  This show is brought to you by Nervous Water, Kettafly Apparel, Power Pole and Beast Brushes.