Lectionary Links: Pentecost, May 27, 2012

Pentecost

Year B:  May 27, 2012

First Reading:  Acts 2:1-21

We Are One by Ysaye M. Barnwell

(Written for ages 4-8)

Comment: On Pentecost we celebrate the birth of the church and the pouring out of God’s Spirit upon a diverse body of believers. According to Donald K. McKim, “[realizing] that ‘all flesh,’ all people, receive the Spirit, enables us to watch and participate in God’s work in this world with a wide-open vision… [joining] with all others to accomplish the Spirit’s purposes.” (Feasting on the Word, Year B, volume 3, p 6) Though we are a diverse people, we are unified through the Spirit. We Are One illustrates Sweet Honey in the Rock’s song “We Are…” The book beautifully expresses our identity, both musically and visually. On Pentecost, may we seek to celebrate our unity and oneness in the Spirit. 

Second Reading:  Romans 8:22-27

Let There Be Peace: Prayers from Around the World by Jeremy Brooks

(Written for ages 5-9)

Comment: This text serves to remind us that often are prayers are an expression of a hope not yet fully realized. Indeed, prayers may be groans, sighs, breaths taken, or words exhaled. This book of prayers collected by Rev. Jeremy Brooks express what it is we are hoping, groaning, sighing, praying, waiting for: a world of peace, creation as it was intended to be. When we’ve exhausted the words in this book as well as the words of our hearts, when we find no words remain, may we be comforted that our hope will forever be expressed through the sighs too deep for words of our ceaseless intercessor.

Gospel  Reading:  John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

One Thousand Paper Cranes: The Story of Sadako and the Children’s Peace Statue by  Takayuki Ishii

(Written for ages 10-14)

Comment: In thinking about this text, we might pause to consider how powerful it is that the story and mission of Jesus survived and thrived beyond the time he was physically present on earth. Surely that in itself is a picture of the Spirit at work in our family of faith, glorifying Christ, taking what is his and declaring it to us again and again. The Spirit weaves us together in life and in death,  building us up for Christ’s work in the world. In many schools, children and youth learn about Sadako, a girl who battled leukemia caused by the bomb that hit Hiroshima. Though Sadako died, her story and spirit live on, inspiring children around the world to study and seek peace.

This week’s Lectionary Links  post was written by regular contributor Noell Rathbun-Cook.