Above:  Pentecost Dove

Image Scanned from a Bulletin, St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church, Athens, Georgia

Text by Albert F. Bayly (1901-1984)

Hymn Source = The Hymn Book of the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada (1971)

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Fire of God, thou sacred flame,

Spirit who in splendour came,

let thy heat my soul refine,

till it glows with love divine.

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Breath of God, that swept in power

in the pentecostal hour,

holy breath, be thou in me

source of vital energy.

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Strength of God, thy might within

conquers sorrow, pain and sin:

fortify from evil’s art

all the gateways of my heart.

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Truth of God, thy piercing rays

penetrate my secret ways.

May the light that shames my sin

guide me holier paths to win.

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Love of God, thy grace profound

knoweth neither age nor bound:

come, my heart’s own guest to be,

dwell for evermore in me.

Above:  Pentecost Dove

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Text (1819) by James Montgomery (1771-1854)

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923), Moravian Church in America

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Lord God, the Holy Ghost,

In this accepted hour,

As on the day of Pentecost,

Descend in all Thy power.

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We meet with one accord

In our appointed place,

And wait the promise of our Lord,

The Spirit of all grace.

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Like mighty, rushing wind

Upon the waves beneath,

Move with one impulse every mind,

One soul, one feeling breathe.

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The young, the old inspire

With wisdom from above;

And give us hearts and tongues of fire,

To pray, and praise.

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Spirit of light, explore

And chase our gloom away,

With lustre shining more and more

Unto the perfect day!

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Spirit of Truth, be Thou

In live and death our Guide!

O Spirit of Adoption, now

May we be sanctified!

Above:  Pentecost Dove

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Text (originally four stanzas) by Timothy Rees (1874-1939)

Hymn Source = Worship Supplement (1969), The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches

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Holy Spirit, ever dwelling

In the holiest realms of light;

Holy Spirit, ever brooding

O’er a world of gloom and night;

Holy Spirit, ever raising

Sons of earth to thrones on high;

Living, life-imparting Spirit,

Thee we praise and magnify.

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Holy Spirit, ever living

As the Church’s very life;

Holy Spirit, ever striving

Through her in a ceaseless strife;

Holy Spirit, ever forming

In the Church the mind of Christ;

Thee we praise with endless worship

For thy fruit and gifts unpriced.

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Holy Spirit, ever working

Through the Church’s ministry;

Quickening, strengthening, and absolving,

Setting captive sinners free;

Holy Spirit, ever binding

Age to age and soul to soul,

In a fellowship unending

Thee we worship and extol.

Above:  Pentecost Dove, May 24, 2015

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Original German Text (1732) by Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760)

English Translation (1789) by John Swertner (1746-1813)

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923)

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Jesus, by the Holy Spirit

May we all instructed be;

Sanctify us by the merit

Of Thy blest humanity.

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Grant that we may love Thee truly;

Lord, our thoughts and actions sway,

And to every heart more fully

Thy atoning power display.

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Lead us so that we may honor

Thee, the Lord our Righteousness,

And bring fruit to Thee, the Donor

Of all gospel-truth and grace.

Above:  The Descent of the Holy Ghost, by Titian

Image in the Public Domain

Original German Text by Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760)

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923)

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To Thee, God, Holy Ghost, we pray,

Who lead’st us in the gospel way,

Those precious gifts on us bestow,

Which from our Saviour’s merits flow.

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Thou Heavenly Teacher, Thee we praise

For Thy instruction, power and grace,

To love the Father, Who doth own

Us as His children in the Son.

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Most gracious Comforter, we pray,

O, lead us further every day;

Thy unction to us all impart,

Preserve and sanctify each heart.

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Till we in heaven shall take our seat,

Instruct us often to repeat,

“Abba, our Father;” and to be

With Christ in union constantly.

Above:  Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit, Cumming, Georgia, Pentecost Sunday, May 24, 2015

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (1969)

Text (1930) by Henry Elias Fries (1857-1949)

Henry Elias Fries composed the text on the afternoon of Pentecost Sunday, 1930, a few hours after the inspiring sermon of the Reverend Herbert J. Johnson, pastor of Fries Memorial Moravian Church, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  Fries shared the text with Johnson early that evening.  The minister requested that the author sing the hymn for the congregation at the evening service.  Fries did so, performing it to the tune MORECAMBE, with his wife, Rosa Elvira Mickey Fries (1860-1938), a longtime musician in the congregation, accompanying him.  A week later she composed a tune, PENTECOSTAL HYMN, for the text.  The pairing of the text with that hymn with that tune has been reality in Moravian hymnals since at least the Moravian Youth Hymnal (1942).

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Come now, O Lord, and teach us how to pray.

Teach us to ask ourselves from day to day

If we are Thine and Thine alone will be

Through earthly days and through eternity.

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Come now, O Lord, and search our inmost thought,

Ask if we love and serve Thee as we ought.

Do we attempt to do Thy holy will?

Does constant love for Thee our bosoms fill?

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Come now, O Lord, and from Thy bounteous store,

Teach lukewarm hearts to love Thee more and more,

And many sinners now from Thee astray

Do Thou convert and strengthen day by day.

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Come now, O Lord, and as in days of old

Do Thou to us Thy Spirit now unfold;

Pour forth Thy love and all abounding grace

Till we in spirit see Thee face to face.

Above:  The Holy Spirit as a Dove

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor from a Church Bulletin, St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church, Athens, Georgia, Pentecost 2015

Text (1829) by Harriet Auber (1773-1862)

Hymn Source = Church Psalmody:  A Collection of Psalms and Hymns Adapted to Public Worship; Selected from Dr. Watts and Other Authors (1831)

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Spirit of peace! celestial dove!

How excellent thy praise!

No richer gift than Christian love

Thy gracious power displays.

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Sweet as the dew on herb and flower,

That silently distills,

At evening’s soft and balmy hour,

On Zion’s fruitful hills:–

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So, with mild and influence from above,

Shall promised grace descend,

Till universal peace and love

O’er all the earth extend.

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Above:  The Holy Spirit as a Dove

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor from a Church Bulletin, St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church, Athens, Georgia, Pentecost 2015

Text (1829) by Harriet Auber (1773-1862)

Hymn Source = A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Christian Worship (1830), American Unitarian Association

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Our blest Redeemer, ere he breathed

His tender, last farewell,

A Guide, a Comforter, bequeathed

With us to dwell.

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He came in tongues of living flame,

To teach, convince, subdue;

All powerful as the wind he came,

As viewless too.

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He came sweet influence to impart,

A gracious willing guest,

While he can find one humble heart

Wherein to rest.

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And his that gentle voice we hear,

Soft as the breath of even,

That checks each fault, that calms each fear,

And speaks of heaven.

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And every virtue we possess,

And every victory won,

And every thought of holiness,

Are his alone.

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Spirit of purity and grace,

Our weakness pitying see;

O make our hearts thy dwelling place,

And worthier thee.

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Above:  Sunset Rays in Sky

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1824) by Lydia Sigourney (1791-1865)

Hymn Source = American Hymns Old and New (1980)

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Blessed Comforter Divine!

Whose rays of heavenly love

Amid our gloom and darkness shine,

And point our souls above;

And point our souls above.

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Thou! who with “still small voice,”

Does stop the sinner’s way,

And bid the mourning saint rejoice,

Though earthly joys decay;

Though earthly joys decay.

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Thou! whose inspiring breath

Can make the cloud of care,

And e’en the gloomy vale of death,

A smile of glory wear;

A smile of glory wear.

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Thou! who dost fill the heart

With love to all our race,

Blest Comforter! to us impart

The blessings of thy grace,

The blessings of thy grace.

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Above:  The Holy Spirit as a Dove

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Text (1854) by Margaret Mackay (1802-1887)

Hymn Source = Songs of the Spirit:  Hymns of Praise and Prayer to God the Holy Ghost (1871), edited by Bishop William Henry Odenheimer (1817-1879) and Father Frederic Mayer Bird (1838-1908), both Episcopalians

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Gracious Spirit, from on high,

Sent to show a Saviour nigh!

In the darkest hours of night

Cheer me with Thy quenchless light.

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By Thine holy office led

Testify of Him who bled;

Testify how Jesus slain

Rose, revived, and reigns again.

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Turn the sinner from his sin,

Teach him how the crown to win;

Bring him to Immanuel’s feet,

Lead him to the mercy seat.

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Thou canst make the soul to feed

On the ever-living Bread;

Thou canst calm his newborn fears,

Dry his penitential tears.

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Bid him hear the Shepherd’s voice,

Think of Jesus and rejoice;

Daily, though earth’s woes increase,

Thou canst sweetly whisper peace.

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While in just avenging ire

God is “a consuming fire,”

Yet, Thou new life-giving Dove,

Thou canst show how God is love.

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