Christian Living on Pentecost

liturgy

Adapted from Genesis 1

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:null

Leader: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, Darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. People: Centuries before Jesus walked among us, Th...

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Baptism: Out of the Watery Chaos

Author

Rowan Williams

Keywords

Scripture

Titus 3:5-6, John 3:5, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Matthew 3:16-17, Genesis 1:1-2

At the very beginning of creation, the book of Genesis tells us, there was watery chaos. And over that watery chaos there was, depending on how you read the Hebrew, the Holy Spirit hovering or a great...

liturgy

Creator Spirit, by whose aid The

Author

John Dryden

Keywords

Scripture

Titus 3:5-6, Ezekiel 37:1-14, 2 Corinthians 3:17-18, Romans 8:11, Psalm 104:30, Genesis 1:1-2

Creator Spirit, by whose aid The world's foundations first were laid, Come, visit every pious mind; Come, pour thy joys on humankind; From sin and sorrow set us free, And make thy temples worthy t...

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Baptism: A New Beginning out of the Watery Chaos

Author

Rowan Williams

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:1-2, Genesis 8:6-12 , Isaiah 32:14-17, Matthew 3:13-17, John 3:5-8, Romans 6:3-4

At the very beginning of creation, the book of Genesis tells us, there was watery chaos. And over that watery chaos there was, depending on how you read the Hebrew, the Holy Spirit hovering or a great...

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My Brother BIrds

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 148:7, 10-13, Matthew 6:26, Job 12:7-10, Genesis 1:20-21, Psalm 104:12, 24, Mark 16:15, Colossians 1:16-17

Unlike most of us, Francis of Assissi's love of preaching extended beyond just human beings. On one of his journeys through the valley of Spoleto, near Bevagna, Francis of Assisi came upon a large...

Quote

Author

Walter Brueggemann

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 45:18, Genesis 1:27, Romans 8:24-25, Jeremiah 29:11, 1 Peter 1:3-4, Romans 6:4

It is there within and among us, for we are ordained of God to be people of hope. It is there by virtue of our being in the image of the promissory God. It is sealed there in the sacrament of baptism....

liturgy

Adapted from Genesis 1 and John 1 (NIV)

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

John 1:null, Genesis 1:null

Leader: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. People: Jesus was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and without Him not one t...

liturgy

Adapted from Genesis 1 / John 1 (WEB)

Author

Jacob Traeger

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:null, John 1:null

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. And God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. In ...

Quote

Author

Ambrose of Milan

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:1-2, Exodus 19:5-6, Ezekiel 36:25-27, Psalm 51:, Luke 7:36-50

The Church has water and tears, the water of baptism and the tears of repentance.

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Leader: Scripture teaches us that there

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Scripture

Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Genesis 1:27, Ephesians 2:10, Isaiah 60:1-3, 1 John 3:1

Leader: Scripture teaches us that there is one good and holy God; that we were created in God’s image, to commit ourselves to Him, to do good works, to reflect His glory, and to know Him as loving Fat...

liturgy

O Father of all creation, who hovered

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 1:25-26, Psalm 139:14, Genesis 1:2

O Father of all creation, who hovered over the deep at the beginning, who spoke light into darkness, who split the heavens open and descended upon the Son of God in the waters of the Jordan, who creat...

liturgy

Heavenly Father, we stand in awe of

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

John 14:6, Genesis 1:1, Psalm 19:1, Isaiah 40:28, John 14:6, Psalm 100:3, Colossians 1:16, Romans 5:8

Heavenly Father, we stand in awe of Your creation. You are the master of design. You know the change of seasons, You know the orbit of planets, and You know exactly what human beings were made for: a ...

Quote

Author

Meister Eckhart

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 3:9, Genesis 1:11-13, 1 John 3:9, Matthew 13:23, Galatians 6:7-8, John 15:5

The seed of God is in us. Given an intelligent and hard-working farmer, it will thrive and grow up to God, whose seed it is; and accordingly its fruits will be God-nature. Pear seeds grow into pear tr...

liturgy

Dear Lord, we come before You today as

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:27-28, Psalm 104:24-25, Romans 8:14-16, 1 John 3:1-3, Genesis 1:1-31, Hebrews 11:3, John 1:1-3

Dear Lord, we come before You today as Your children. We praise You as the God of all creation and the giver of life. You have made us, saved us, and called us to be Your people and to serve in Your K...

Quote

Author

Heinrich Weinel and Alban G. Widgery

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:1 & 1:31, Genesis 14:18–20, Isaiah 55:6–7, John 14:6, Acts 10:1–4, 34–35, Psalm 19:1–2

To some God and Jesus may appeal in a way other than to us: some may come to faith in God and to love, without a conscious attachment to Jesus. Both Nature and good men besides Jesus may lead us to Go...

liturgy

Lord Jesus, Master of both the light

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 4:12-17, John 1:1-14, Genesis 1:3-4, John 8:12-20, James 1:1-18, Ephesians 5:8-9, 1 John 1:5-10

Lord Jesus, Master of both the light and the darkness, send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas. We who have so much to do seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day. We who are an...

liturgy

God, the fact that we feel

Author

Mark D. Roberts

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 24:1, Genesis 1:26, James 1:27, Matthew 25:40, Amos 5:24, Isaiah 1:17

God, the fact that we feel uncomfortable is evidence that we perceive the injustices in our world. We don’t ask you to help us hear the cries of injustice, but rather to give us courage to act against...

liturgy

God blessed them, and God said to them,

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:28, Genesis 2:15, Exodus 20:9-10, Psalm 90:17

God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth' Lord be with those who work and worship The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to ti...

liturgy

Creator of heaven and earth, you have

Author

Serapin of Thumis

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 65:9-13, Genesis 1:29-30, Joel 2:23-24, Deuteronomy 28:12, Isaiah 55:10-11, 1 Kings 18:41-45, Leviticus 26:3-4, Psalm 104:13-14, James 5:17-18

Creator of heaven and earth, you have studded the sky with stars and made it bright with lights, enriched the earth with fruits to satisfy our needs, given to humankind the clear light and the shining...

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Even More Powerful Than E.F. Hutton

Author

Mark D. Roberts

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:null

In the 1970s, the brokerage firm of E.F. Hutton ran an unforgettable series of TV commercials. The set up was always similar. Two people in a crowded public place are talking about financial matters. ...

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Two Wrong-Headed Views of the Body

Author

Tish Harrison Warren

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:31, 1 Timothy 4:4-5, Colossians 1:16, Romans 1:20, 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 2 Corinthians 5:1

Christians are often accused of two wrong-headed views of the body. One is that we ignore the body in favor of a disembodied, spirits-floating-on-clouds spirituality. The other is that we are obsessed...

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Ten God-Created Longings for the Soul

Author

James Bryan Smith

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:26-27, Hosea 2:19-20 , Isaiah 6:8, John 15:4-5, Ephesians 1:7, Psalm 16:11

There are at least ten God-created longings of the soul: 1. To see my body as sacred 2. To be wanted, desired 3. To be loved without condition 4. To be intimately connected to God 5. T...

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Polemic Against Paganism

Author

Nahum Sarna

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:, Genesis 2:, Exodus 3:14, Deuteronomy 4:14-19, 1 Corinthians 1:16-17

Whether the Hebrew Genesis account was meant to be science or not, it was certainly meant to convey statements of faith. As will be shown it is part of the biblical polemic against paganism and an int...

Quote

Author

Gordon and Gladis DePree

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:17, Galatians 2:20, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Ephesians 2:10, 2 Corinthians 4:7, Romans 12:1, Genesis 1:27

Has God’s face ever been on a coin? We are the coin that bears the living likeness of God. Giving of ourselves with whatever that may include, is the only legal currency of the kingdom of heaven.

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God made it. God loves it. God cares for it.

Author

Emily Hunter McGowin

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:31, Psalm 104:24, Colossians 1:17, Isaiah 40:26, John 1:10, Romans 8:19, Hebrews 1:3

Julian of Norwich was a fourteenth-century mystic-theologian who maybe understood the belovedness of creation and new creation better than anyone. In the fifth chapter of her book Revelations of Divin...

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Norman MacLean’s Father on Creation

Author

Ken Gire

Keywords

Scripture

John 1:1, Genesis 1:2, John 7:38, Psalm 46:4, Revelation 22:1, Isaiah 55:10-11

In A River Runs Through It, Norman MacLean’s Father, a Presbyterian Minister, is sitting on the bank of the river, reading the Gospel of John while his sons are fishing. When Norman comes over to wher...

Quote

Author

Julian of Norwich

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 33:8, Genesis 16:, John 10:11-18, Genesis 1:2, Matthew 6:26, Colossians 1:16-17, Psalm 139:13-14

And in this vision, he showed me a little thing, the size of a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, and to my mind’s eye it was as round as any ball. I looked at it and thought, ‘What can this be?’...

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God Makes the First Move

Author

John Stott

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 1:4, 1 John 4:19, Romans 5:8, John 1:1-2, Genesis 1:1

In his classic work, Basic Christianity , John Stott shares this most fundamental truth about God: God always makes the first move. Whether it is the creation or our personal relationship, we are n...

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Goodness: A Home for Humanity

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:null, Genesis 2:null

In Genesis 1–2, God makes a home for his people. From the primeval wilderness and wasteland God begets beauty and form, building the grand house called Earth. God’s creative acts are not simply intend...

liturgy

Gracious God, sometimes I am so caught

Author

Mark D. Roberts

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:null, Philippians 1:6, 2 Corinthians 3:18, James 1:17-18, Colossians 3:10, Ephesians 2:10

Gracious God, sometimes I am so caught up in my failures, in all the ways I am not like you, that I neglect the deeper truth, the earlier truth of Genesis 1. You have made me, as a human being, in you...

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