PENTECOST

Pentecost. When I was growing up it was Whitsunday ... did that change with the 1979 Prayer Book or did I just miss a meeting? (Someone will tell me more that I really want to know about that I imagine, but there it is.) Whenever it changed it's been many long years now that Pentecost has been a day to wear red and celebrate the "birthday of the church" when the Holy Spirit rushed in and inspired the disciples who were still hiding out in what Henri Nouwen called "the house of fear" to launch out into the world proclaiming the Gospel of Love.

.

Our Pentecost celebration this year started on Pentecost Eve. I had the 5:00-family-service duty and I headed over to church Saturday afternoon wondering if anybody would show up on Saturday in Memorial Day weekend. They did: a hardy remnant of mostly families with little-bitties who love to play the rhythm instruments along with the guitars and can't wait to rush the altar when it's "bread and wine time." I tried to connect the themes of Memorial Day and Pentecost -- praying that the same Holy Spirit who gave the disciples the power to speak in the languages they needed to be understood by those in the crowd in Jerusalem would give us the power to speak the language of peace we need to speak to end the scourge of war.

.

Then we headed over to Holy Spirit ... an emerging Episcopal fellowship in the Silverlake district of Los Angeles. Forty-plus folks gathered around food and fellowship and then scripture, reflection and eucharist -- some "regulars," some newcomers and some haven't-been-in-church-in-a-whiles -- all sharing community and communion as we shared stories of the hows and wheres the Spirit had acted in our past ... where we hear the Spirit calling us into the future.

.

And then today, The Feast of Pentecost, was a day of celebration, energy and joy at All Saints Church where we baptized eight little people (two at 9:00, five at 11:15 and one at 1:00) into the Body of Christ, heard a kick-ass sermon from my colleague Zelda Kennedy (I'll post it as soon as we get it "up" on the website) and were transported by the amazing Lauridsen Veni Sancti Spiritus.

.

We didn't have our regular adult education offerings today ... instead we piped jazz out onto the quad between services and had cake-on-the-lawn celebrating the Birthday of the Church and just enjoyed being part of this Big Fat All Saints Episcopal Church Family. And we fussed over Sebastian Lopez who was baptized today at six months old and we got fussed over today by Lydia Wilkins who is still fussing at 103 years old. And the Spirit was in all of it. And we rejoiced and were glad in it.

.

And on Tuesday we'll get back to the hard work of turning the human race into the human family -- of bringing that kingdom-come-to-earth-as-it-is-in-heaven. And we'll do it with renewed energy and assurance because we glimpsed it -- that kingdom come -- again today: on the church lawn and at the communion rail and in the baptismal font and in the jazz and the babies and the Lauridsen and in the rush of that Holy Spirit who calls us to follow those first disciples as we launch out into the world proclaiming the Gospel of Love.