Pentecost, 1750s, Joseph Ignaz Mildorfer, oil on canvas at the Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, Budapest

Prime Timers

The Prime Timers were a Bible study group at St. Martin's for eight years. One of the goals of our founder, Jackie Rose, was a weekly web page for the group and all the pages are online here. The group disbanded but the readings below follow the Revised Common Lectionary as adapted for use in Episcopal worship.

Lectionary readings

The Readings for May 24- Day of Pentecost --Acts 2:1-21 or Numbers 11:24-30; Psalm 104:25-35, 37; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 or Acts 2:1-21 and John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39. The text is from the Bible Study Tools -- New International Version. The Psalms are from the most recent print version of The Book of Common Prayer - 2016.

Acts 2:1-21

¹ When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

⁵ Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶ When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. ⁷ Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome ¹¹ (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” ¹² Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! ¹⁶ No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

    ¹⁷ “ ‘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.
     ¹⁸ Even on my servants, both men and women,
             I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
             and they will prophesy.
    ¹⁹ I will show wonders in the heavens above
             and signs on the earth below,
             blood and fire and billows of smoke.
     ²⁰ The sun will be turned to darkness
             and the moon to blood
             before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
     ²¹ And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

or Numbers 11:24-30

²⁴ So Moses went out and told the people what the LORD had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent. ²⁵ Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but did not do so again.

²⁶ However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷ A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” ²⁸ Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!” ²⁹ But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!” ³⁰ Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.

Psalm 104:25-35, 37

²⁵ O LORD, how manifold are your works! *
    in wisdom you have made them all;
    the earth is full of your creatures.

²⁶ Yonder is the great and wide sea
    with its living things too many to number, *
    creatures both small and great.

²⁷ There move the ships,
    and there is that Leviathan, *
    which you have made for the sport of it.

²⁸ All of them look to you *
    to give them their food in due season.

²⁹ You give it to them; they gather it; *
    you open your hand, and they are filled with good things.

³⁰ You hide your face, and they are terrified; *
    you take away their breath,
    and they die and return to their dust.

³¹ You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; *
    and so you renew the face of the earth.

³² May the glory of the LORD endure for ever; *
    may the LORD rejoice in all his works.

³³ He looks at the earth and it trembles; *
    he touches the mountains and they smoke.

³⁴ I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; *
    I will praise my God while I have my being.

³⁵ May these words of mine please him; *
    I will rejoice in the LORD.

³⁷ Bless the LORD, O my soul. *
    Hallelujah!

1 Corinthians 12:3b-13

^3b No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. ⁴ There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. ⁵ There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. ⁶ There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. ⁷ Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. ⁸ To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. ¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.

¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

or Acts 2:1-21 (see above)

John 20:19-23

¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

or John 7:37-39

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” ³⁹ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Thanks to Bible Study Tools and the Online Book of Common Prayer for the text.