Hello everyone! Last Sunday was a very special day in the history of the church because it marked the day the church was born! We celebrated Pentecost with a time of hymns and praise, special music, and listening to Pastor Nelson give a sermon about the history of Pentecost, and the power of the Holy Spirit! Let's discuss this week's traditional service!

First of all, here is the video of the service:

Anouncements

• We invite new users or individuals to fill out our digital connect card. Click here to fill it out.
• We also invited those watching to follow us on social media. (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram)
• We thanked all of the people who came out for our 24 hour prayer service last Friday and Saturday, and announced that the next 24 hour prayer service will be from 6pm on August 6th to 6pm on August 7th.
• We announced the latest changes to our covid policy. Fully vaccinated individuals are no longer required to wear a mask or socially distance in the church, but we ask that anyone feeling sick or experiencing symptoms of covid stay home.
• Lastly, we showed the trailer for our VBS this summer which will occur from July 26th to July 30th. Click here to learn more.

Prelude

This week, I (@cmp2020) played an excerpt from the second movement of Mozart's second sonata in F Major for the prelude. I recently discovered this piece, and have really enjoyed playing through all three of the sonata's movements. During the prelude, the altar's candles were lit to show the service was beginning.

First Hymn

The first hymn this week was a hymn I wrote called Oh Spirit of the Holy One. Today's service was the first time it has been sung in a service.

History of the Hymn

While this hymn is really new, it does have a little story behind it. Several months ago, I returned from a Youth retreat inspired, and decided I wanted to write a new hymn. I decided I would write the words and the music (unlike I usually do). So I was confronted with the challenge of actually thinking of words. I decided it had to be based on scripture, so I went to a random verse generator on the internet, and the first scripture excerpt thing that popped out was 2 Timothy 2:11-13 which in the new international version reads:

If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
¹² if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
¹³ if we are faithless,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.

Immediately after reading it, I realized that each line could be turned into a verse for a hymn. And so I wrote a poem utilizing the scripture as reference. I then wrote the music. Verse 11 corresponds with the first verse of the hymn, verse 12 corresponds with verse 2 and 3, and verse 13 corresponds with the refrain of the hymn. Here is the sheet music for the hymn:

Special Music

Usually at this point in the service, we would do a second hymn, but this week we did an anthem based on the classic hymn: Because He Lives. The anthem came with a cd version of the accompaniment which was quite helpful because it allowed me to conduct the singers.

Sermon

Pastor Nelson gave a sermon this week discussing the origins of Pentecost, and his own personal testimony towards the gifts of the spirit.

Final Hymn

For this week's final hymn, I selected Descend, O Holy Spirit by Michaele Murphy and Alexander Ewing. Unfortunately, the site does not have much information about the history of the hymn.

Postlude

For the postlude, I improvised.

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed this week's service!