The word this week is: “Spirit!”
This week is Pentecost, the day when the Holy Spirit descended on the upper room of the disciples, filling them with, empowering them, sending them into the world to tell of Christ’s amazing love and resurrection, symbolized by people from all over hearing them speak in their own languages. It is the breakout moment of the church.
Pentecost is is one of the most layered of our church holy days. It is widely celebrated as the “Birthday of the Church,” sometimes with birthday cakes. Its color is red to catch the flames. Most of us are familiar with the wordplay around “Spirit,” meaning in both Greek and Hebrew “breath,” “wind,” and the spirit that animates us. And I’ve been in churches which pick up on those images with balloons, big fans, streamers, and even the occasional pyrotechnics!
Our theme this year will move around wind, picking up some of Jesus’ words to Nicodeumus about the wind blowing where it will but you can’t see it, just its effects. Where churches sometimes key in on the force of the wind, the power of the wind, this year we’re listening for the harmonies of wind rustling windchimes. After a season of stormy weather, I want to remind us of the quieter, more melodious effects of wind, the gentle breeze, the tintinnabulation of tuned chimes, hopefully giving us a chance to re-experience the ways we play together on the wind of the Spirit. In a way, the idea is kind of obvious, and we can agree that it’s so, but there is something moving in being together in the sanctuary with the tinging of the gently moving chimes filling the room… and us... with the reminder we are all borne on the Wind of the Spirit.
So please bring wind chimes to jingle during the service when we hear the scriptures say “Spirit,” and wear flame-bright reds and oranges and magenta in your wardrobe to “get into the Spirit” of Pentecost.
Come join the celebration this Sunday. And bring someone with you to enjoy it, too!
In Christ,
David
Please sign up for one of the small, informal conversations during May and early June for people to share their experiences of this church over the years (not just in the past three) so I can understand the landscape and history. Either email the church at office@fccithaca.org, call the church office at 607-257-6033, or sign up outside the church library and sanctuary on one of the many clipboards. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible!
Texts For Sunday Worship:
Gospels John 14:8-17, 25-27
New Testament Acts 2:1-21
This week is Pentecost, the day when the Holy Spirit descended on the upper room of the disciples, filling them with, empowering them, sending them into the world to tell of Christ’s amazing love and resurrection, symbolized by people from all over hearing them speak in their own languages. It is the breakout moment of the church.
Pentecost is is one of the most layered of our church holy days. It is widely celebrated as the “Birthday of the Church,” sometimes with birthday cakes. Its color is red to catch the flames. Most of us are familiar with the wordplay around “Spirit,” meaning in both Greek and Hebrew “breath,” “wind,” and the spirit that animates us. And I’ve been in churches which pick up on those images with balloons, big fans, streamers, and even the occasional pyrotechnics!
Our theme this year will move around wind, picking up some of Jesus’ words to Nicodeumus about the wind blowing where it will but you can’t see it, just its effects. Where churches sometimes key in on the force of the wind, the power of the wind, this year we’re listening for the harmonies of wind rustling windchimes. After a season of stormy weather, I want to remind us of the quieter, more melodious effects of wind, the gentle breeze, the tintinnabulation of tuned chimes, hopefully giving us a chance to re-experience the ways we play together on the wind of the Spirit. In a way, the idea is kind of obvious, and we can agree that it’s so, but there is something moving in being together in the sanctuary with the tinging of the gently moving chimes filling the room… and us... with the reminder we are all borne on the Wind of the Spirit.
So please bring wind chimes to jingle during the service when we hear the scriptures say “Spirit,” and wear flame-bright reds and oranges and magenta in your wardrobe to “get into the Spirit” of Pentecost.
Come join the celebration this Sunday. And bring someone with you to enjoy it, too!
In Christ,
DavidPlease sign up for one of the small, informal conversations during May and early June for people to share their experiences of this church over the years (not just in the past three) so I can understand the landscape and history. Either email the church at office@fccithaca.org, call the church office at 607-257-6033, or sign up outside the church library and sanctuary on one of the many clipboards. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible!
Texts For Sunday Worship:
Gospels John 14:8-17, 25-27
New Testament Acts 2:1-21
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