Flowing Into All the World

Reading Notes

NRSV texts, artwork and Revised Common Lectionary Prayers for this service are available at the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.
Leccionario en Español, Leccionario Común Revisado: Consulta Sobre Textos Comunes.
Lectionnaire en français, Le Lectionnaire Œcuménique Révisé

Calendar Notes

Flowing Into All the World
Colors are red.

For Your Planning Team: Pentecost — Flowing Into All the World

In This Series and the Next

1. End strong. Pentecost ends not only this four-week series, but the entire Easter Season. So we’ve switched up the worship space dramatically from what it has been in the past several weeks, and we include an act of commissioning the newly baptized or received and others who have been part of the formation group process since Lent or Easter Season began. It’s a fitting climax to the series and the season and deeply in keeping with the historic roots and purposes of the feast of Pentecost, East and West.
   
2. Segue well. The end of one series should flow directly into the next. Pentecost launches folks into ministry. This week that ministry begins with the blessing, support, and prayers of the congregation. Our new series, starting next week (“From Chaos to Community,” June 11-July 9) explores how God supports us in life and ministry through all the transitions of our lives, moving us from chaos to community.
   
3. Preview what’s next. This isn’t quite the full “overture” for a series opening, but you might think of it as a “teaser trailer.” One way to capture the five themes we’ll explore in the next series “From Chaos to Community” with be with single words-- Conception, Birth, Weaning, Initiation, Legacy. Related words include Chaos, Laughter, Separation, Adulthood, Generations. Put these into a 15-30 second video loop, add some music (with permission), and you’ve got a simple but effective preview of what’s to come.

Logistics for This Service

Get help to set up the worship space. You will need to pull out the dining table and chairs, put back the pulpit, move the font front and center and/or obtain a bigger font (large bowl on substantial stand) and provide for some sort of waterproofing covering for your floors around the font. Work out the logistics and the plans for moving things and putting waterproof coverings in place well in advance of the service.

Setup for this service also involves commissioning, making, or finding the banners suggested for use during the various readings.

Time with Children: This is not a typical part of the services we have provided in our series. Today, however, cries out for it. And it’s the primary reason we need waterproofing around the font. Children will be asked to splash water from the font during the “Time with Children,” and they should be asked back to the front to be part of the laying on of hands as people are being commissioned after the sermon and before the sending (we provide for Book of Worship resources for Holy Communion but do not necessarily expect congregations to celebrate it today).

Rehearse the readings and the processions involved with them. Choose a younger person and an older adult who can read well, and be sure they rehearse both their readings and how they (and the relevant banner waver) are getting to and from the font as well as the reading itself in the worship space with the sound amplification they’ll use in the service itself.

Rehearse the commissioning with candidates before the service so they are comfortable and confident in their movement, very brief statements (rehearsal may help candidates make their statements briefer!), and responses during the service.

Additional Resources

2014 Planning Helps for Pentecost (Last Sunday of Easter)

Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland