Printed Service for 8th June 2025

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Printed Service – Sunday 8th June 2025
Prepared by Liz Cope
“What language do you speak?”

Call: There are people in many different places, in different time zones, who speak many different languages, who have different coloured skin and who have different cultures. Yet we all worship the same One God our Father, one Lord risen and alive, and the Holy Spirit that knows no boundaries and speaks all languages in all time zones.

Let us pray: Lord, be here with us today. Let us hear you speaking with words we understand deep in our being. As we hear your voice, comfort, challenge, encourage and motivate us. May your Holy Spirit inspire us, unite us, guide us. Breathe on us afresh. Renew our hope in your love and resurrection. Speak new life to everyone, wherever they are in the world today. AMEN

Hymn: STF 385 Holy Spirit we welcome you
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Holy Spirit, we welcome You,
Holy Spirit, we welcome You!
Move among us with holy fire
as we lay aside all earthly desire,
hands reach out and our hearts aspire.
Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit,
Holy Spirit, we welcome You!

Holy Spirit, we welcome You,
Holy Spirit, we welcome You!
Let the breeze of Your presence blow
that Your children here might truly know
how to move in the Spirit’s flow.
Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit,
Holy Spirit, we welcome You!

Holy Spirit, we welcome You,
Holy Spirit, we welcome You!
Please accomplish in us today
some new work of loving grace, we pray —
unreservedly — have Your way.
Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit,
Holy Spirit, we welcome You!

Chris Bowater (born 1947) © 1986 Sovereign Lifestyle Music Ltd Used by permission.
CCLI Licence No. 1085607

Prayer: Almighty God, we remember this day with awe and wonder, the events of that day of Pentecost long ago which so transformed the lives of the apostles. We remember how, in the space of a few moments their experience was revolutionised, their expectations turned upside down, their attitudes changed forever; one moment consumed by fear and the next radiating confidence; one moment uncertain of the future and the next sure of their calling; one moment wrestling with doubt and the next full if faith; one moment hiding behind closed doors and the next preaching boldly to the crowds.

Living God, we rejoice again today at the gift of your Spirit poured out, given freely then and now, the way you breathed new hope, new faith and new life into your people. But we also remember that not everyone responded so gladly to the Spirit’s coming. From some there was scorn, ridicule and disbelief, suggestions that the apostles were drunk or even mad. Living God, forgive us to that we can be guilty of a similar response. Instead of welcoming the Spirit our greeting is cautious and with suspicious hearts. Instead of opening our hearts to the Spirit’s movement we close our minds to anything that challenges the status quo. Instead of gladly receiving your Spirit’s gifts we barricade our souls against change.

Forgive us those times when we have put up barriers, when we have stumbled blindly on, when we have closed our hears to your prompting. We have failed you, we are not worthy of your Spirit, yet you see the worth in us and offer us your Holy Spirit, freely, unconditionally. You speak loud and clear words of acceptance and forgiveness to us – my child your sins are forgiven. Thank you God, thank you Jesus and come again Holy Spirit. AMEN

Lord’s Prayer video in multiple languages
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Or have a go at this quiz “Match the phrase to the language” and try saying each one!

A Uya Mweya Mutsvene	1 English
B Vieni Spirito Santi	2 Hindi
C sing ling lai laa	3 Italian
D pavitr aatma aao	4 German
E Come Holy Spirit	5 Shona
F Komm, Heiliger Geist	6 Mandarin

Reading : Genesis 11:1-9
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Reading : Acts 2:1-21
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

“‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Hymn: Songs of Fellowship 12 All over the world
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All over the world the spirit is moving,
All over the world as the prophet said it would be;
All over the world there’s a mighty revelation
Of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

All over His church God’s Spirit is moving,
All over His church as the prophet said it would be;
All over His church there’s a mighty revelation
Of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Right here in this place the Spirit is moving,
Right here in this place as the prophet said it would be;
Right here in this place there’s a mighty revelation
Of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Roy Turner (born 1940) © 1984 Thankyou Music. Used by permission. CCLI Licence No. 1085607

Message: “What language do you speak?”

I love listening to different languages. Unfortunately, apart from my native English, I can only speak French, very badly, but my husband is a fluent French speaker. He can also get by in various other languages including German, Spanish and Italian. When we go on trips abroad, he will always try and learn some words in the language of that country. (It did backfire on him once when he was in Hungary and the taxi driver was so happy that Pete had made the effort to speak Magyar – the Hungarian language, that he tried to start up a conversation ). My foreign language skills are generally limited to good morning, good evening, please and thank you.

We recently had a trip to France and I was quite pleased with myself for being able to understand a fair deal of what was being asked in restaurants etc. However, I was totally reliant on Pete when it came to holding a conversation.

On the day of Pentecost, the eleven disciples were all gathered together in one room. It was 40 days since Jesus’ death and resurrection and 10 days since his ascension to heaven. Suddenly there was a rushing wind blowing through the closed room, and tongues of fire appeared to settle on each of their heads. They then opened their mouths and spoke in languages they had never heard before let alone tried to speak. Afterall they were simple, largely uneducated folk from a small area of Galilee in Israel, not known for their proficiency in foreign languages.

Imagine being able to speak Arabic, Turkish, Italian and Egyptian without a single lesson!

These were the languages of the people they encountered in Jerusalem, (in today’s society) because Jews from an area covering 10s of 1000s of square miles had converged for the feast of Pentecost. And, unlike my schoolgirl French, they clearly understood what was being said.

So, through the medium of language the good news of the gospel was no longer confined to Jerusalem and the neighbouring countryside, but was dissipated to far reaching parts of the known world, with different languages and customs.

This was the fulfilment of the promise that God had given Abram way back at the time of the book of Genesis, when he called Abram to leave Harran, “I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make your name great and you will be a blessing.”

God had called Abram to leave his home country, and promised that Abram and his family would be richly blessed.

At Pentecost, God was once again calling the people to speak in the language of wherever, and with whoever they found themselves, and to spread the good news of the gospel in a language that was understood.

This is a sort of reversal of the curse laid on the people of Babel after they attempted to build the highest tower in the world as a monument to themselves and their own strength. These people all spoke the same language and so decided to stay put in one place, in their own comfort zone. This was not what God had intended. He had always intended for people to be scattered over the whole world, as stewards of his creation.

As a punishment for their pride and arrogance, he gave them different languages so that they couldn’t understand each other and so were forced to disperse.

Now, at the day of Pentecost, we see this curse reversed. The people were from various parts of the globe and spoke different languages, but each of them heard their own language being used.

How wonderful is that to be able to hold a meaningful conversation in your own language! As often happens whenever something unexpected happens, there are sceptics, doubters, those who will oppose or try to rationalise or explain away the unusual phenomenon.

“Surely these Galileans cannot speak anything but their own language! They must be drunk!”

Peter comes to their rescue. He, the one who had a history of jumping in feet first, or speaking before thinking. Yet it is he who addresses the whole crowd, and eloquently.

“Their behaviour may be surprising but it is not through the effects of drink, rather it is the fulfilment of the scriptures.”

“From now on, many people will come to Christ, young and old, male and female, slave and free, Jew and Gentile. The Spirit of God will no longer be for the special elite, but will be poured out on people of all sorts who calls on the name of the Lord.”

“Anyone who asks, anyone who follows Jesus will be saved.”

No wonder the disciples were acting “oddly” – they were full of the Holy Spirit. It was exciting, amazing! I wonder how much of a “risk” do we take in our behaviour when we use our language to share the gospel? Would people notice anything different about us? Would they pass comment about us?

Is the Spirit moving within you, within your church in amazing and exciting ways? Has anything happened which might make people think we were drunk? It may be that rather than the dramatic wind and fire, the Spirit is moving in the quiet and stillness, or has the Spirit been so quenched that there is not a flicker of a flame, or the gentlest breeze?

Those first Christians faced the charge of behaving as if drunk, they were ridiculed and even persecuted. However not even the harshest persecution by the authorities could crush the Christian faith, indeed it only acted as a catalyst for the faith to spread further as the Christians were dispersed further afield, taking the good news of the gospel with them.

So we are not to fear rejection or ridicule when we speak about our faith in amazing and exciting ways.

Rather we are encouraged to use language that is understandable and accessible, and to remember that the Holy Spirit can be poured out on all who ask. There is no one excluded and it is freely given.

Come Holy Spirit, come. AMEN

Hymn: STF 395 Spirit of the living God
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Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me;
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me;
melt me, mould me, fill me, use me;
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me;

Daniel Iverson (1890-1972) © 1935 Birdwing Music/EMI Christian Music Publishing/Small Stone Media Used By Permission. CCLI Licence No. 1085607

Intercessions: As the Spirit enables us, let us gather ourselves to pray.

May the church and it’s leaders be filled to overflowing with love for one another, and kindled with fresh energy for spreading the good news of the gospel in a language that is accessible to all.