Sunday May 23 Pentecost
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Psalm 118
An enthusiastic song of thanksgiving for everything God has done for us—God has protected us from evil forces, and we give praise in the temple and in processions. Appropriate for a Sunday as an anniversary of the triumph of Easter Day.
Portions of this psalm are traditionally sung on Easter Day.
Isaiah 11: 1-9 What’s Isaiah about?
This is a poem describing how God will bring peace and justice to the people. It was written around the same time as Ezekiel and gives hope to the people living in exile that creation will again be beautiful. The shoot coming out of the stump of Jesse, is an image based on the common sight of a new shoot growing out of an old stump. Jesse was the alternate name for King David, so the image means that David’s city—Jerusalem—which has become a stump because it was destroyed by the Babylonian invasion, will have a new leader and new life and peace arise in it. The new leader will bring peace and justice imagined here as miraculous peace extending even to wild animals.
Five hundred years later the early Christians applied this idea to Jesus. Because today is Pentecost, and the giving of the Holy Spirit, this poem was sometimes interpreted as describing how the new city—Jesus and the Christian community—is a new shoot growing out of the Roman destruction of Jerusalem embodying God’s peace and justice.
John 14: 21-29 What’s John about?
At the time John was writing his gospel, an entire generation had passed since Jesus’ earthly life and the early Christians were afraid they had permanently lost contact with Jesus. John remembers Jesus saying that he is present when Christians love each other and that he will be with us in the form of the Holy Spirit. Today is the anniversary of the dramatic gift of Jesus’ Spirit as recounted by Luke.
This week’s collect:
Almighty and everliving God,
who fulfilled the promises of Easter
by sending us your Holy Spirit
and opening to every race and nation
the way of life eternal,
keep us in the unity of your Spirit,
that every tongue may tell of your glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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