Greetings!

The season of Pentecost is almost here! Fifty days after Easter, we celebrate the birthday of the Church! This year, we celebrate on May 19!

Our Pentecost story comes from the second chapter of the book of Acts. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, after Jesus reappears to the disciples in a variety of places, and after Jesus ascends to be with God, the disciples are gathered together wondering how to carry Jesus’ message of love and grace forward. All of a sudden, a strong wind bursts through the room, tongues of fire alight on each of their heads, and they are all overcome by the Holy Spirit, proclaiming the Good News of God’s love and grace in languages they had never spoken before. This is the birthday of the Church!

The disciples are empowered to spread the Good News far and wide to all people. The Holy Spirit abides with them and they are able to do things they never imagined possible. The movement Jesus began continues through them.

And, two thousand years later, we continue to celebrate that moment today! It isn’t so much about the specific date (like Easter, it changes every year!), and it isn’t so much about the specific details—wind and flames and speaking in tongues. It’s about celebrating and giving thanks for these first moments when the Spirit breathed life into the Church.

Like when we celebrate the birthdays of loved ones, what we’re really doing is giving thanks that these individuals exist in the world and all the ways that they continue to make the world a better place simply by participating in another year of life.

As we observe Pentecost, that’s exactly what we’ll be celebrating: giving thanks that the Church exists in the world and all the ways that the Church continues to make the world a better place simply by participating in another year of life!

How do our individual churches, St. John UCC and St. Philip’s UCC, make the world a better place by existing another year? I invite you to prayerfully consider that over the next few weeks and to bring your thoughts to our shared retreat at Camp MoVal on Pentecost weekend. On May 19, when we gather for worship together at 10:30 a.m. at Camp MoVal, we will, indeed, celebrate with joy another year of Church life together! We may just have such a joyful worship that, like in the first Pentecost story, the neighbors might think we’re having too much fun, we must be drunk. I hope you’ll join us to share in the celebration!

Preparing to Celebrate,
Pastor Laura