Voice 1 (Quinn):    In the beginning,

Voice 2 (Tadd):    In the beginning,

Voice 3 (Kate):    In the new beginning

Voice 1:    In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,

Voice 2:    In the beginning was the Word.

Voice 3:    When the day of Pentecost had come
   
Voice 1:    In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

Voice 2:    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.

Voice 3:    When the day of Pentecost had come, the Disciples were all together in one place.

Voice 1:    Then God said, “Let there be light!”; and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness

Voice 2: What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it….The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

Voice 1: Then the Lord God formed the human from the dust of the ground, and breathed into its nostrils the breath of life; and the human became a living being.

Voice 2: He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.

Voice 3:    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.  And divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them,—

Voice 2:    And was it the light that shone in the darkness?

Voice 3:    And 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—

Voice 1:    And was it the wind that swept over the face of the waters?  And was it the breath that brought the human to life?

Voice 3:    And 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?”

Voice 1:    And was it the wind?  The wind from the face of the waters?  And was it the very breath of God?

Voice 2:    And was it the light?  The light from the beginning of the world?  And was it the very soul of Christ?

Voice 3:    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 supposed, 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—

Voice 1:    breath

Voice 2:  light

Voice 3:    …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, 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.’”

[pause]

Voice 1:    It was the same old story.

Voice 2:    The same old story.

Voice 1:    The story of the beginning…of the world…of the universe.

Voice 2:    …of us.

Voice 1:    The story of a god that hates to be alone.  Who could not stand being the only soul around, and so sent God’s Spirit out to make…us.
    The story of a God whose very being is the undoing of loneliness,
    the breaking of chains.

Voice 2:    Whose very heart is the knocking down of walls,
    is the bridging of voids,
    is the shaping of form from out of chaos.

Voice 1:    Like wind that stirred the waters,
    like holy fire burning in the desert,
    like the wind that drove back the Red Sea waters,

Voice 2:    Like the song welling up in the mouth of King David
    like the breath which stirred dry bones in the valley
    like the filling of Mary’s body with light.

Voice 3:     When the day of Pentecost had come, the Disciples 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.

Voice 1:    Like the cries of the Christ child to be fed in the night
    like the dove resting on the baptized Messiah
    like the healing that comes from the hands of the Savior

Voice 2:    like the voice of the Teacher in the ears of the crowd.
    like the last choking breath of a man on the cross
    like the silence that covers the tomb in the garden.

Voice 3:    And 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.

Voice 1:    Like the power that raised a dead Messiah
    like the breath of the Christ on the face of his friends
    like new life in Peter, who had denied his God and left him alone,
    who now stood up and said:

Voice 3:    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.  Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”

[pause]

Voice 1:    When the Disciples thought they were left alone, bereft
    when Jesus had died, risen, ascended—left
    they sat alone and scared, unsure.

Voice 2:    And God,
    the god who was alone at the beginning,
    the god who knew what it was to sit in the darkness
    without the light,
    without the wind,
    without the world.

Voice 1:    And God,
    who made the people
    and watched them turn away
    over and over

Voice 2:    And God said,
    “Let there be light—
    and wind—
    and power.
    Let there be hope among them,
    for they are not alone.”

Voice 3:    And suddenly there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind.
    Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them.
    And they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Voice 1:    And they were not alone.

Voice 3:    Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Voice 2:    And what does it mean to be saved?  And is then now?  Is then always?

Voice 1:    And what is it that God will save you from?
    From danger?  From sickness?
    From evil?
    Will God save you from your enemies?
    From the terrorists?
    From your neighbors?
    From defeat?
    From vulnerability?

Voice 2:    Or is it something else?

[pause]

    You’ve seen it, haven’t you?
    You’ve seen how this city is so full, so full of people,
    more than you could ever count
    yet it is so easy to not meet anyone,
    to know no one,
    to be known by no one
    to move, and move, and move through it
    and never really encounter another.
    So easy to be lonely, anonymous, lost, and empty.

Voice 1:    Have you noticed
    how this life can be so full, so full of leaving?
    of the death of people you love,
    of the breakup of long-cherished relationships
    that leave you distraught and aching
    of separation and separation and separation
    that can leave you estranged, deranged, undone?
    And it is so easy, so easy to find yourself left, and empty.

Voice 3:    And they were filled with the Holy Spirit!

Voice 2:    Have you seen
    the hospitals and nursing homes and the regular homes full, so full
    of lonely ones,
    of elders, too slow and so left behind by an accelerating world
    so full of the sick and the dying, separated from the world by pain or contagion or fear,
    so full of the ones living with grief, or sadness, or depression,
    and it is so easy to retreat to the bed and the couch and the TV,
    slow and separated and empty.

Voice 1:    And don’t you know
    the streets are full, so full
    of the homeless needing shelter
    of the poor needing food and drink
    of those too busy to pause,
    of the ones with empty eyes,
    and sometimes you know it’s your own eyes that are empty.

Voice 3:    And they were filled with the Holy Spirit!

Voice 2:    And what is it that God will save you from?
    Is it the same thing God saved Godself from?
    The emptiness, loneliness…solitude…void?

Voice 3:    And they were filled with the Holy Spirit!

Voice 1:    And they were not alone.

[pause]

Voice 2:    It’s the same old story,
    the same old story about the beginning,
    about the new beginning.
    About a God who hated to be alone,
    whose very being is the undoing of loneliness,
    the breaking of chains.

Voice 3:    The rush of a violent wind.
    Divided tongues, as of fire.
    Filled with the Holy Spirit!

Voice 1:    And they were not alone.

Voice 2:    A god whose very heart is the knocking down of walls,
    is the bridging of voids,
    is the shaping of form from out of chaos.

Voice 3:    Wind…fire…Spirit.

Voice 1:    And they were not alone.

Voice 2:    When the people fear they are alone, bereft
    and sit estranged and scared, unsure.
    When hearts ache for emptiness
    and lives shrink in fear.
    When all is grey and nothing shines,
    and loneliness the law,
    then comes the beginning.
    The new beginning.
    And God says,
    “Let there be light—
    and wind—
    and power.
    Let there be hope among them.”

Voice 3:    In these days, 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.

Voice 1:    And they will not be alone.

Voice 2:    And they will not be alone.

Voice 3:    And God will not be alone.  Amen.

Voice 1:    Amen.

Voice 2:    Amen.