How to Celebrate Pentecost

May 22, 2020 Uncategorized

Dear friends,

Pentecost, which this year falls on Sunday, May 31, is a major feast in the Christian year. On Pentecost we celebrate God’s gift of the promised Holy Spirit. We hear the passage from Acts 2 that tells the story of the Holy Spirit resting on the heads of the believers like tongues of fire, and we are reminded anew of our own anointing with the Spirit in our baptism. The Spirit that empowers people for ministry has been given, individually and abundantly, to each of us. That is reason indeed to celebrate!

We will celebrate that gift of the Spirit during our online worship at 10:30 AM on May 31, with readers proclaiming God’s good news in a multitude of languages, as happened on that first Pentecost. We will wear red, to symbolize the flames of the Holy Spirit. Our worship service will be followed by a virtual Zoom coffee hour, complete with red balloons provided by St. Andrew’s; and red clothing—provided by you!

What if you are not able to join us online? You can still celebrate Pentecost! Read Acts 2:1-21. Imagine what it would have been like to be one of those early believers—or a bystander as the Spirit alighted and proclamation poured forth! Dress in red on Pentecost Sunday. Blow up your red balloons from St. Andrew’s, and be reminded of the way God breathes into you!

Red Balloons for Pentecost!!

St. Andrew’s has packaged a baggie of red balloons for every parish family for Pentecost. The baggies will be available for St. Andrew’s parishioners in the St. Nicholas Chapel on Wednesday and Thursday, May 27 and 28. On May 29, any remaining baggies will be on a table outside the church for our neighbors. Baggies are also being delivered to those living in retirement communities and those who are not able to come to the church to pick theirs up. (If you need to have your balloons delivered to you, please contact Bill Wilds at saec.bill19@verizon.net by noon on Thursday, May 28.) We hope you will bring your inflated balloons to the virtual coffee hour on May 31!

Blessings!

Anne