Opening Hymn – Praise to the living God #372
1 Praise to the living God! All praised be his Name
who was, and is, and is to be, for ay the same.
The one eternal God ere aught that now appears:
the first, the last, beyond all thought his timeless years!
2 Formless, all lovely forms declare his loveliness;
holy, no holiness of earth can his express.
Lo, he is Lord of all. Creation speaks his praise,
and everywhere above, below, his will obeys.
3 His Spirit floweth free, high surging where it will:
in prophet’s word he spake of old: he speaketh still.
Established is his law, and changeless it shall stand,
deep writ upon the human heart, on sea, on land.
4 Eternal life hath he implanted in the soul;
his love shall be our strength and stay while ages roll.
Praise to the living God! All praised be his Name
who was, and is, and is to be, for aye the same.
Collect: Almighty 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.
Offering Hymn – Breathe on me, breath of God #508
1 Breathe on me, Breath of God,
fill me with life anew,
that I may love what thou dost love,
and do what thou wouldst do.
2 Breathe on me, Breath of God,
until my heart is pure,
until with thee I will one will,
to do or to endure.
3 Breathe on me, Breath of God,
till I am wholly thine,
till all this earthly part of me
glows with thy fire divine.
4 Breathe on me, Breath of God,
so shall I never die;
but live with thee the perfect life
of thine eternity.
Closing Hymn – Praise the Spirit in creation #507
1 Praise the Spirit in creation, breath of God, life’s origin:
Spirit moving on the waters, quickening worlds to life within,
source of breath to all things breathing, life in whom all lives begin.
2 Praise the Spirit, close companion of our inmost thoughts and ways;
who, in showing us God’s wonders, is himself the power to gaze;
and God’s will, to those who listen, by a still small voice conveys.
3 Praise the Spirit, who enlightened priest and prophets with the word;
his the truth behind the wisdoms which as yet know not our Lord;
by whose love and power, in Jesus God himself was seen and heard.
4 Tell of how the ascended Jesus armed a people for his own;
how a hundred men and women turned the known world upside down,
to its dark and furthest corners by the wind of heaven blown.
5 Pray we then, O Lord the Spirit, on our lives descend in might;
let your flame break out within us, fire our hearts and clear our sight,
till, white-hot in your possession, we, too, set the world alight.
6 Praise, O praise the Holy Spirit, praise the Father, praise the Word,
Source, and Truth, and Inspiration, Trinity in deep accord;
through your voice which speaks within us we, your creatures call you Lord.
