Worship on the Day of Pentecost
May 24 2026 10 am
Minister: The Rev. Brad Childs Music Director: Binu Kapadia
Vocalist: Linda Farrah-Basford Welcoming Elder: Iris Routledge
Children’s time: Vivian Houg Reader: Sam Malayang
We gather to worship God
Music Prlude
Greeting
L: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you
P: and also with you
Lighting of the Christ candle
Welcome and announcements
Preparation for worship
Call to worship:
L: Breathe upon us, Holy Spirit,
P: and transform our thoughts and actions.
L: Stir in our hearts, Holy Spirit,
P: and fill us with your wisdom.
L: Breathe upon us, Holy Spirit,
P: and refresh our commitment to serve in repentance, love and renewal.
L: Stir in our hearts, Holy Spirit,
P: as we worship and witness to God’s love.
Opening praise: This I believe (The creed)
Prayers of approach and confession
God: Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit, Your energy moves in us and through us as we step into each new day. You are as close as our next breath, the very life within us. You refresh us like a cool breeze on a hot afternoon, giving us strength when we’re tired. You challenge us like a strong wind, waking us up and stirring us to pay attention.
Shift our focus to the wonder of who you are, your mystery, wisdom, grace, and the beauty of everything you’ve made. Turn our hearts toward the warmth of Christ’s love.
To you, Creator God, Christ our Redeemer, and Holy Spirit, we bring our prayers and our praise with love and trust.
Bring us together as one, united in worship and witness by your grace and power.
As we remember all that you are and all you’ve done, we also remember who we are and what we’ve done. So we come honestly before you to confess:
God of wind and fire, at Pentecost, your Spirit filled Jesus’ followers and gave them the power to speak your truth in ways that everyone could understand, no matter their language or background.
But we admit we’ve often ignored your guidance. We’ve stuck to our own opinions and words instead of letting your Spirit speak through us. We haven’t always lived the lesson of that first Pentecost, that your love is for every culture, every language, every person.
Forgive us for the times our words and actions in your name came from pride, self-interest, or a desire for power instead of from your Spirit and real love. Forgive us for the wrong things we’ve done… and for the good things we’ve failed to do.
Send your Spirit again. Renew our faith, energize our repentance, and transform us so we can live with purpose, doing justice, loving others, and serving with genuine hearts. Amen.
Response: I will trust in the Lord
Assurance of God’s grace
The mercy of our God is from everlasting to everlasting. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven and set free to live in the renewing power of the Spirit. Thanks be to God for this most generous gift.
Musical offering: Dayspring Singers
We listen for the voice of God.
Song: Open our eyes, Lord (445 )
Children’s time: Pentecost: The Birth Day of the Church:
Props: birthday cake or cupcakes decorated with red candles
Pentecost is the birthday of the church. It is the day that the disciples really started to go out and spread the gospel message. Bring a birthday cake decorated with red candles. Tell the story of Pentecost and explain why it is the church’s birthday. Light the candles and make reference to the Spirit flames, then blew out the candles to remember the rushing wind. The cake/cupcakes could be eaten during Sunday School.
Prayer and The Lord’ Prayer (535)
Song: Come, let us sing (706)
Scripture reading: Ephesians 4:25; 5:2
Response: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
Message: The Incredible Hulk
Everyone gets angry. Sometimes it’s justified, even “righteous”. Most of the time it’s not. When we let anger fester and don’t try to rectify things, we get stuck in it. But God has a different plan for us, a plan that makes us One body.
When I was a kid, I was fascinated by superheroes. My mom would safety pin beach towels around the necks of all the neighbourhood kids, so we’d have superhero capes and could run around having imaginary adventures. Of course, the boy from Smallville, Kansas, known as Superman, was a favourite. I loved the Silver Surfer, too. Today, I’m a pretty big fan of the Incredibles Jack-Jack. But probably my favourite superhero as a child was Dr. Robert Bruce Banner and his alter ego, The Incredible Hulk.
Banner is a genius scientist with 7 PhD’s: (a good hero in his own right for kids to look up to), and the Hulk he becomes (of course) is the giant green rage monster whose strength grows proportionally with his anger and is seemingly unlimited. In one of the older comics, for example, the Hulk easily swats away a 20-ton dragon as if he were shooing away a fly. But all of his strength comes from his anger and his instability. As a boy, I suppose the idea that anger and power are linked made perfect sense to me. In adult life, however, it seems anger doesn’t really work that way. Instead, it usually gets us into trouble.
Ephesians was written sometime in the early 60’s, possibly by Paul (though it lacks many of his usual features) and possibly from imprisonment. Possibly, the book (which several times over claims Paul as the author) is actually a collection of Paul’s shorter writings by his students, who compiled and sent this letter to the churches as a kind of introduction to the apostle’s thoughts. This would be a common and accepted practice of the day.
In any case, the surviving copy we have handed down to us is addressed especially to the Church in Ephesus. But there were probably multiple other (slightly different) versions of it produced for other communities.
Ephesus, the city, was sort of the West Edmonton Mall of its day or the Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. It was a major shopping center of the ancient world. It was a busy, cosmopolitan place. The congregation there was fairly wealthy, but it was very diverse ethnically, and Paul also mentions some tradespeople in the congregation. The people come from all over the world with different ideas and different traditions. Though Paul would eventually spend three years with the congregation in Ephesus and address a number of issues, in this letter, he has only one major theme in mind: Unity.
The author’s main point is that Christians (no matter where they come from) need to get along because we’re all part of the one body of Christ.
For the Christian, honesty and conversation are key.
Paul writes,
25 Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbour, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger with one another do not sin.” “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,”
Do you get angry? Maybe not green rage monster angry – but angry?
These days, there is a disorder for absolutely everything you can think of. Accordingly, what I might refer to as a “Hot Head” might actually be someone who suffers from the aptly named Intermittent Explosive Disorder. Do you know someone with Intermittent Explosive Disorder? If that describes you, the good news is that there’s now a drug that can help you control your anger. Doctor Emil Coccaro, a researcher and professor of Psychiatry at the University of Chicago Hospitals, who studied anger for several decades, is championing a new drug called Depakote, introduced first by Abbott Laboratories in 1995. However, it was a very long road to classify the condition and assign a pharmaceutical solution. By his own admission, Coccaro’s research was incredibly slow. The problem… apparently, nobody gets angry.
Subsequently, Dr. Coccaro could never seem to find enough volunteers with tempers for the clinical studies. You see, apparently, very few people think of themselves as angry. And those who did – didn’t really think it was a problem. 501
What about you? What makes you angry? Does it have a negative effect on your life or relationships?
According to a police report, Melodi Dushane became outraged and jumped partway through the drive-through window at 6:30 p.m. on New Year’s Day 2010. The security camera footage (which became an overnight internet sensation after someone added fake closed captions) captured the altercation, which includes the woman punching and breaking the window itself, attempting to climb inside the restaurant, ripping the hair out from the head of the McDonalds employee, and punching her repeatedly in the face while shouting “I am going to end you!” over and over again.
In the video, Dushane also retrieves a bottle from the backseat and throws it through the window as the drive-thru staff call the police.
And the reason she-hulk went mad with rage: well… her 10-piece chicken nuggets weren’t ready yet.
Now, all of that gloriously unhealthy fat-drenched goodness aside, I can’t personally recall ever letting my anger get the best of me quite like that. But… I do recall 8-year-old me, throwing my Atari controller down and breaking it when I knew in the depths of my little heart that I pushed that red button in time, but my little 8-bit guy didn’t jump like he was supposed to, and my game was over. With a broken controller, however, I’d never play the game again.
I do recall stepping on a kid’s Lego and screaming that the kids needed to clean their room, even though ten minutes earlier I really couldn’t have cared less.
I do recall being so annoyed by a customer in line ahead of me that I set down a basket half full of groceries and left the store, only to have to return later and do it all over again.
And more than that… I also remember being mad at my wife and then leaving for a week of school (as previously scheduled), but an hour before I would normally get up and without saying goodbye. And also… not answering my phone for the first two days after that class.
The Silent Treatment… Not exactly my high point.
You know that saddest part about that shameful story, though? It’s that my wife probably didn’t even know what I was all bothered about, because I never actually talked to her about it.
Paul says, Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold.
That quote feels like it was perfectly written for married couples. And maybe it is, but it’s also a lot bigger than that.
For the Christian community, in our relationships with each other and with others, anger is never meant to outlast a single day. Just think about that for a second. We’re not supposed to be angry with each other longer than a day.
And this is actually a theme in scripture. Psalm 4:4, for example, says, “Be angry, BUT do not sin, in the your bed at night, search your heart and be silently at peace.” In the words of that great prophet, Princess Elsa – “Let it go”.
Notice that neither our verse from Ephesians nor this verse from the Psalms says that we shouldn’t feel anger. In fact, the bible never says that. Just the opposite is true. We are not only allowed to feel angry, but we’re even supposed to feel angry sometimes.
Jesus felt angry. He chased people with a whip, knocked over tables, and told Peter to get back in line. In Deuteronomy 25, it says that God “hates” the scales that are tampered with to cheat the poor, and that he “burns” with “anger”.
It’s not that we can’t be angry; it’s that it can’t consume our lives. It shouldn’t spill over into the next day, then the next, and then the next.
And it’s not that we can’t be angry, it’s that it has to be directed in the right places.
Righteous indignation, a Holy Anger, is good.
This week, two teenagers (18-year-old Caleb Liam Vazquez and 17-year-old Cain Lee Clark) who espoused white supremacist views opened fire at the Islamic Center of San Diego (the city’s largest mosque), killing three random and innocent men.
Suppose you are angry today about that – good. Injustice and suffering should make us angry. That’s righteous indignation.
But that’s not really the kind of anger Paul is talking about.
If, however, you are angry with a friend of yours who’s always late or a spouse for doing the dishes the wrong way or at a coworker you think isn’t pulling their fair share, that’s a different story.
If you are angry and it is not a holy, righteous anger, then Paul is telling you to go to that person and be honest with them. And you need to do it today before the sun goes down tonight.
You need to do it before your anger starts to fester and get worse. As Ron McManus writes, “Bitterness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.”
Next, Paul continues in this section with an absolutely incredible and terrifying statement. He writes, 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
When we hold on to anger and let it fester, when we let the sun go down, and we’re still upset with someone, it literally “grieves” the person of the Holy Spirit who resides in us. This word used here is Loo=peh-o, which also means “deeply distressed” and “saddened”. This is the same word that’s used to describe a mourner after John the Baptist is beheaded in prison. He is Lu-Peh-O. And that is how the Holy Spirit reacts when we let unrighteous anger sit with us overnight. It causes the Spirit pain.
Instead, we are to “32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave us.”
Now this is where things get a little complicated. Sometimes that’s easier said than done.
Forgiving someone for forgetting to put the laundry away or for that snarky email or for making your job harder or the person in that car that keeps changing lanes or the person who put raisins in the cookies where God intended the chocolate to be – well, that is one thing. Getting rid of your anger at someone who took credit for your work or lied about you or cheated on you or hurt someone you love, well, that is a whole different story, isn’t it?
But is it supposed to be?
How radical is this forgiveness we are supposed to emulate?
A South African woman stood in an emotionally charged courtroom listening to white police officers acknowledge the atrocities they had perpetrated in the name of apartheid. Officer Vanderbrook acknowledged his responsibility for the death of her son. Along with others, he had shot her 18-year-old son at point-blank range. He and the others partied while they burned his body, turning it over in the fire until it was ash. Eight years later, Vanderbrook and others arrived to seize her husband. Hours later, Vanderbrook came to fetch the woman. He took her to a woodpile where her husband lay bound. She was forced to watch as they poured gasoline over his body and ignited the flames that consumed it. The last words her husband said were, “Forgive them.” Vanderbrook stood awaiting judgment. South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission asked the woman what she wanted. Three things, she said. I want Vanderbrook to take me to the place where they buried my husband’s body. I would like to gather up the dust and give him a decent burial. Second. Mr. Vanderbrook took all my family away from me, and I still have a lot of love to give. Twice a month, I would like for him to come to the ghetto and spend a day with me so I can be his mother. Third, I would like Mr. Vanderbrook to know that he is forgiven by God and that I forgive him as well. I would like someone to lead me to where he is seated so I can embrace him, and he can know my forgiveness is real. The older woman was led across the courtroom. Vanderbrook fainted. And someone began singing Amazing Grace, and eventually the entire courtroom erupted in song as she hugged the man who murdered her son and husband..
Paul writes,
5 1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
I don’t really know how far each of us can take this. Some things seem so unforgivable. And the idea that we can forgive and forget is far too simple. But that’s what God does. That is the ideal we are meant to shoot for.
A woman named Lynn Sullivan wrote this little journal entry. “In the late 1920s, my grandparents married and moved into grandpa’s old family home. It was a clapboard house with a hole in the middle. In the late 1930s, they decided to tear down the old house and build a new one.
But much to my grandmother’s dismay, many of the old materials from the old house were recycled into the new one. My grandfather used old fastenings, handles, hinges, mouldings, and other pieces of lumber. When the house was done, everywhere my grandmother looked, she saw old doors that wouldn’t shut properly, crown mouldings that were split, walls littered with old nail holes, poorly painted-over panels, and unfinished window trimmings. All her life, she longed for a new house, but all she got was a recycled one.
When God brings us into the Kingdom, the old way of living must be dismantled and discarded completely. We are called not to an easy life but to a faithful one. Letting go of anger and forgiving others may in some cases seem impossible, but you can’t build a new kind of life out of old material. Unlike the Incredible Hulk, letting go of our anger is actually what makes us strong. Redirecting it at injustice and doing something about it is what actually makes people heroes. 81
My challenge for you this week
Admit that there is anger in your life. Commit to not letting it fester. Seek out and speak honestly and in love to those you feel have wronged you, the very day it happens. While it’s not always simple, refuse to let the sun go down before you do it. And when it seems impossible to reach the ideal, remember with God, All Things Are Possible. Amen.
Song: For all the love (440)
We respond to serve God.
Our time of giving
Prayers of the people
Wind of the Spirit, blow through us on this Pentecost day and make our faith new again.
Wake up our love for you and give us fresh energy to serve in Christ’s Church. Help us see the needs around us for caring and mission. Give us the courage to try new things we haven’t dared before. Help us heal the hurts the church has caused, and work for truth, healing, and good relations with Indigenous peoples. Give us strength for the work you call us to do, together and as individuals. Breathe through us in our prayers and our praise.
Spirit of Power and Promise, move in us and renew our faith.
Wind of the Spirit, blow through us and help us understand the hard challenges facing our communities and the world you created. Give us a new commitment and your guidance to work for truth, healing, reconciliation, and saying sorry for the church’s part in colonization and residential schools. Change us into faithful followers who show your love to others.
Spirit of Power and Promise, move in us and renew our faith.
Wind of the Spirit, blow through us and bring healing to everyone who is hurting, those who are sick, sad, discouraged, or grieving, and those struggling with money and daily life. Bring healing to the earth, to places in trouble, and to nature that is in danger.
Spirit of Power and Promise, move in us and renew our faith.
Wind of the Spirit, blow through us and fill us with the same kindness we see in Jesus Christ. Refresh us as your followers, ready to serve the world you love. Warm our hearts with trust in Jesus, and give us courage to live lives of loving service in his name. Amen.
Song: Joyful, joyful we adore you (410)
Sending out with God’s blessing
Go in the strength of the Spirit, to greet those we meet with understanding, loving service and care. And may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit and the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Response: God to enfold you
Music postlude
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Numbers in brackets after a song/hymn indicate that it is from the 1997 Book of Praise of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Those and other songs are being used in accordance with the specifications of Dayspring’s licensing with One License (3095377) and CLC (A735555).
The Rev. Brad Childs retains the copyright (© 2026) on all original material in this service. As far as Brad Childs is aware, all of the material that has not been attributed to others is his own creation or is in the public domain. Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.
Video recordings of the Sunday Worship messages can be found here on our YouTube Channel.