Sundays at All Hallows (May 24, 2026)

Welcome to Sundays at All Hallows.

This Sunday, Whit Sunday, often contracted to Whitsun, celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples in the upper room as promised by Jesus. It is called Whit Sunday after the white robes worn by the newly baptized on this Sunday which was a major baptismal feast day in the early Church. In some Christian traditions, Whit Sunday, also known as the Feast of Pentecost, still is a major baptismal feast day.

This Sunday’s message unpacks 1 Corinthians 12:3-13 and its meaning for today’s Christian.

GATHERING IN GOD’S NAME

Open this link in a new tab to hear Carey Luce and Geraldine Latty’s “Spirit of God.”

Spirit of God,
bring freedom to every heart.

Holy Counsellor,
lead us, lead us
into truth.

Awaken us,
life-giving breath of God.

Holy Spirit,
Holy Spirit,
send us in your power.

God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5: 5

[Let us worship God.]

Open this link in a new tab to hear David Mowbray’s “Give Thanks for Whitsun Wind and Fire.”

1 Give thanks for Whitsun wind and fire!
Rejoice with heaven's hidden choir.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
See how the Pentecostal flame
blazes afar God's threefold name.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

2 Sing praises to our God Most High
whose Holy Spirit prompts the cry
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Truly the Lord is present where
faithful disciples meet for prayer.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

3 Give thanks that we, God's church, can know
the Spirit's power, as long ago
Alleluia! Alleluia!
To hold, to heal and to uplift,
to hallow every natural gift.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

4 Join, then, this Pentecost, in praise
for blessings poured in countless ways.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
And, to a world which suffers so
let peace and gladness overflow.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

[Let us confess our sins to God our Father]

Silence

Heavenly Father,
we have sinned against you and against our neighbour
in thought and word and deed,
negligence, through weakness,
through our own deliberate fault;
by what we have done
and by what we have failed to do.
We are truly sorry and repent of all our sins.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ who died for us,
forgive us all that is past;
and grant that we may serve you in newness of life
to the glory of your name. Amen.

Merciful Lord,
grant to your faithful people pardon and peace,
that we may be cleansed from all our sins,
and serve you with a quiet mind;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Richard W. Hillert’s arrangement of
“Glory to God in the Highest” (Gloria in Excelsis).

Glory to God in the highest, and peace to His people
on earth.
Lord God, heavenly king, almighty God and Father:
We worship You, we give You thanks, we praise
You for Your glory.
Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord
God, Lamb of God:
You take away the sin of the world; have mercy on
us.
You are seated at the right hand of the Father;
receive our prayer.
For You alone are the Holy One, You alone are the
Lord,
You alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

[Let us pray.]

Silence

O God,
who taught the hearts of your faithful people
by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit:
grant us by the same Spirit
to have a right judgement in all things,
and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort;
through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour,
who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
Acts 2: 1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

[May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory.]

Silence

Open this link in a new tab to hear Kiran Young Wimberly’s “Praise the Lord, All the Earth” (Psalm 104).

1 You, O Lord, are clothed in glory
You have spread the heavens above me
Praise the Lord, all the earth

2 Wings of wind and cloud of chariot
Praise the Lord, all the earth
Flashes of lightning, servants of majesty
Praise the Lord, all the earth

3 You have set the earth’s foundations
Praise the Lord, all the earth
Rushing waters hear your commanding
Praise the Lord, all the earth

4 You make springs flow into valleys
Praise the Lord, all the earth
Birds in their nests, singing your glory
Praise the Lord, all the earth

[Instrumental interlude]

Rain on the hills, earth filled with blessing
Praise the Lord, all the earth
Food for our strength, health and happiness
Praise the Lord, all the earth

All of these good things you have created
Praise the Lord, all the earth
You give us breath, new life to all
Praise the Lord, all the earth

Glory to God forever and ever
Praise the Lord, all the earth
I’ll sing to God, all of my living
Praise the Lord, all the earth

A reading from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 12: 3-13

Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ‘Let Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

[May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory.]

Silence

Open this link in a new tab to hear Christopher Idle’s “Spirit of holiness, Wisdom and Faithfulness.”

Spirit of holiness, wisdom and faithfulness,
wind of the Lord, blowing strongly and free:
strength of our serving and joy of our worshipping
Spirit of God, bring your fulness to me!

1 You came to interpret and teach us effectively
all that the Saviour has spoken and done;
to glorify Jesus is all your activity
promise and gift of the Father and Son:

Spirit of holiness, wisdom and faithfulness,
wind of the Lord, blowing strongly and free:
strength of our serving and joy of our worshipping
Spirit of God, bring your fulness to me!

2 You came with your gifts to supply all our poverty,
pouring your love on the church in her need;
you came with your fruit for our growth to maturity,
richly refreshing the souls that you feed:

Spirit of holiness, wisdom and faithfulness,
wind of the Lord, blowing strongly and free:
strength of our serving and joy of our worshipping
Spirit of God, bring your fulness to me!

3 You came to the world in its pride and futility,
warning of dangers, directing us home;
now with us and in us, we welcome your company;
Spirit of Christ, in his name you have come:

Spirit of holiness, wisdom and faithfulness,
wind of the Lord, blowing strongly and free:
strength of our serving and joy of our worshipping
Spirit of God, bring your fulness to me!

A reading from the Gospel according to John.
John 7: 37-39

On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”’ Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

[May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory.]

Silence

In Our Weakness

The backstory to today’s reading from the apostle Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth is that its members had become divided into factions. They had also acquired a number of erroneous beliefs and were engaging in a number of undesirable practices. One group who practiced glossolalia, “speaking in tongues,” interpreted their ability to speak in a language unintelligible to themselves and to others as a mark of special favor from God, setting them apart from their fellow Christians and showing that they were spiritually superior to those who lacked this ability. They did not keep this belief to themselves. They had become puffed up with pride, boasted about their superiority to other Christians, and looked down on the members of the Corinthian church outside their group. The divisions of the church at Corinth, the erroneous beliefs, and the undesirable practices had been brought to Paul’s attention, and Paul had written the letter in hopes of mending the church’s divisions and correcting its beliefs and practices.

In the reading Paul makes the point that no one can make the profession, “Jesus is Lord,” unless the Holy Spirit is working in them. It is the Holy Spirit who enables them to make this profession. A profession is “a statement about what someone feels, believes, or intends to do.” It is typically made publicly so everyone can know about it.

On the other hand, the Holy Spirit will not assist anyone to curse Jesus. Among the activities of the Holy Spirit is to enable us to see what is good and right in Jesus and to praise and honor him, not just with our lips but also with our lives. The Holy Spirit will not make someone angry at Jesus and say bad things about him.

Paul also makes the point that that although Christians receive different kinds of spiritual gifts, they all come from the same source, the Holy Spirit.

While Christians serve in different ways, they all serve the same Lord, Jesus. Despite the fact God works in people in different ways, it is the same God who works in everyone to do all things that are pleasing and acceptable to God.

Paul goes on to empathize that when the Holy Spirit is present in a person, some manifestation of the Holy Spirit will be discernible in that person. The Holy Spirit will manifest himself in the person not to benefit them but to help others. Paul then gives a list of the various abilities given by the Holy Spirit, the different ways the Holy Spirit can be seen in an individual. He gives a different list elsewhere in his letters. What we can gather from these lists is that they are not exhaustive. The Holy Spirit may manifest himself in other ways. A genuine manifestation of the Holy Spirit will build up and strengthen the faith of the whole church and glorify and exalt Jesus.

Spiritual gifts are gifts to the whole church even though they may be given to a particular individual. The Holy Spirit decides to whom he will give particular ability and what that ability will be.

In the reading Paul compares the Body of Christ with a human body. Like a human body, the Body of Christ has many parts, Jews, non-Jews, slaves, free. They are united into one body outwardly by baptism and inwardly by the Holy Spirit. All of the parts of the Body of Christ have received the Holy Spirit. It does not matter who they are. The Holy Spirit does not confine himself to one people group.

This is also one of the lessons of Luke’s Acts of the Apostles, a truth that is foreshadowed by the miraculous speaking of foreign languages by those upon whom the Holy Spirit came in the upper room, languages they had never learned but which others understood.

God does not withhold his abiding, indwelling presence from an individual due to ethnicity, heritage, race, religious affiliation, or social status. Nor does he give a particular spiritual gift to a particular believer in Jesus to separate them from and to elevate them above other believers. What God may do, as a pastor of my acquaintance who had struggled with a serious drinking problem and who had received the gift of speaking in tongues explained to me, is to give a person that particular spiritual gift to bolster and strengthen their faith, enabling them to stay sober and to serve God in their weakness. It was a gift to help them that they might help others. It was really a gift to the whole church.

Spiritual gifts may be thought of how God meets us in our weakness and enables us to help each other.

Silence

Open this link in a new tab to hear Elizabeth Ann Porter Head and Trevor Hodge’s “O Breath of Life.”

1 O Breath of life, come sweeping through us
Revive Your church with life and power
O Breath of life, come, cleanse, renew us
And fit Your church to meet this hour

O Breath of love, come breathe within
Renewing thought and will and heart
Come, Love of Christ, afresh to win
Revive Your church in every part

2 O Wind of God, come bend us, break us
Till humbly we confess our need
Then in Your tenderness remake us
Revive, restore, for this we plead

O Breath of love, come breathe within
Renewing thought and will and heart
Come, Love of Christ, afresh to win
Revive Your church in every part

3 Revive us, Lord! Is zeal abating
While harvest fields are vast and ripe
Revive us, Lord, the world is waiting
Equip Your church to spread the light

O Breath of love, come breathe within
Renewing thought and will and heart
Come, Love of Christ, afresh to win
Revive Your church in every part

O Breath of love, come breathe within
Renewing thought and will and heart
Come, Love of Christ, afresh to win
Revive Your church in every part

O Breath of life, come sweeping through us
Revive Your church with life and power

[Let us affirm our faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed.]

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father
almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

THE MINISTRY OF PRAYER

[Let us pray for the Church and the world.]

Father, we pray for your holy catholic Church
that we all may be one.

Grant that every member of your Church may truly and humbly serve you: 

that your name may be glorified by all people.

We pray for all bishops and other ministers
that they may faithfully preach your word and administer your sacraments.

We pray for all who govern and hold authority in the nations of the world 

that there may be justice and peace on the earth.

Give us grace to do your will in all that we undertake
that your glory may be proclaimed through our lives.

Have compassion on those who suffer from any grief or trouble
that they may be delivered from their distress.

We praise you for your saints who have entered their eternal joy
may we also come to share in the fulness of your kingdom.

We pray for our own needs and for those of others:

Silence.

Those present may add their own petitions.

Faithful God,
you have promised to hear the prayers
of all who ask in Jesus’ name.
In your mercy, accept our prayers.
Give us what we have asked in faith,
according to your will:
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[Let us give thanks to God for his goodness.]

Almighty God, we praise you for the blessings
brought to the world through your Church.
We bless you for the grace of the sacraments,
for our fellowship in Christ with you and with
each other, for the teaching of the Scriptures,
and for the preaching of your word. We thank
you for the holy example of your saints, for
your faithful servants departed this life, and
for the memory and example of all that has
been true and good in their lives. Number us
with them in the company of the redeemed in
heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

O Almighty God,
you have fulfilled your word of promise,
and from your heavenly throne have poured
out upon your Church the gift of the Holy Spirit:
Open our hearts, we pray, to receive the fullness
of his grace and power; that our lives may be
strengthened for the service of your kingdom,
and our souls be conformed more and more
to the image of your Son, our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. Amen.

[And now as our Saviour taught us, we pray]

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Matt Osgood’s “Send Us Out.”

Send us out in the power of your Spirit,
to shine your light in the way we live.
Send us out in the power of your Spirit,
as we’ve received, may we freely give.

Send us out,
send us out,
send us out for your glory.
Let all we do
be praise to you;
send us out for your glory

[Instrumental interlude]

Send us out in the power of your Spirit
to show your love everywhere we go.
Send us out in the power of your Spirit,
Lord, fill us up so we overflow.

Send us out,
send us out,
send us out for your glory.
Let all we do
be praise to you;
send us out for your glory

We're laying down our lives,
a living sacrifice,
we're living for your glory and your praise.
We’re taking up our cross,
we’ve counted up the cost,
we're living for your glory and your praise.

Send us out,
send us out,
send us out for your glory.
Let all we do
be praise to you;
send us out for your glory

Send us out,
send us out,
send us out for your glory.
Let all we do
be praise to you;
send us out for your glory
send us out for your glory
send us out for your glory

GOING OUT AS GOD’S PEOPLE

We thank you, Sovereign Lord,
creator of sky, earth and sea and everything in them,
that you spoke by your prophets:
stretch out your hand now to heal,
perform among us miraculous signs and wonders:
fill us with your Holy Spirit
that we too may speak boldly for you;
through the name of your holy servant, Jesus.
Amen.

Open this link in a new tab to hear John A. Behnke’s “Benediction.”

The Lord bless you
The Lord keep you
The Lord make his face to shine upon you
And be gracious
And be gracious
The Lord look upon you with favor
And give you peace.
Amen.