There are three great festivals of the Church year: Easter, Christmas, and Pentecost. The last is a hidden treasure waiting for the Church to continue to unwrap. Unlike the other two days, Walmart and Hallmark have not discovered Pentecost. It is a celebration of the "pouring out of the Spirit" on the people of God. In one of the churches I served, the parishioners decorated with balloons and had a large birthday cake. The children got to blow out the many candles.
Yet the name Pentecost tells us that we are celebrating even more than a birthday. Pentecost means 50. The recipients of the first gift of being blessed by the Spirit were Jewish pilgrims to Jerusalem who had come to celebrate the Feast of Weeks, which fell 50 days after Passover. One of the purposes of the Jewish festival was to renew the covenant between God and Noah.
From Noah until today, we have a relationship with God that not even catastrophic floods can extinguish. As the earliest covenant was marked by a rainbow, the covenant of Pentecost is marked by wind and the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Like Easter, it is not only a day, but a season. Pentecost is the longest season of the year. From May 24th until the beginning of Advent in November, we have the occasion to live and celebrate the living Spirit of God that is forever with us. Pentecost renews the promise of Jesus:
The Father will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, in my name, who will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. I will not leave you orphaned.
With the losses of this world, we are never abandoned by God. Every time you see red in a cardinal, a sunset, a red rambling rose, a T-shirt in a crowd, a passing sports car, smile and know that God is forever close.
Rev. Tempe Fussell