We have entered into the next season of ordinary time, Pentecost. This season is the longest of the church year lasting from June until late November. Ordinary refers to the regular, order of things. Ordinary time for the Church year refers to a routine of regular worship or daily life, and yet, out of the ordinary sprouts the extraordinary.
The liturgical color is green. Why green? Green is a very rich color that points to richness, to wealth, life, growth and fertility. As I was jogging through Cazenovia Park in South Buffalo the other day I was struck by the transformation of the park after a long, barren, and cold winter season. Now the main color in the park is green. Green grass, green bushes, and the flowers and trees are bursting with green leaf. The park has come alive. The soccer fields, the tennis courts, the basketball court, the playgrounds, and the baseball diamonds are filled with children and youth playing while their family and friends fill the bleachers. These are ordinary days and yet they are rich, full of extraordinary activity, and the color green.
The season of Pentecost begins with the Day of Pentecost and the celebration of the gift of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church. In the passage from Acts, (Acts 2:1-21) we hear about the wonderful and powerful images of the Holy Spirit rushing in as a loud and powerful wind that fills the entire dwelling place. Next we have the image of fire in the shape of tongues resting on all who are gathered there. And in the midst of this powerful action they began to speak all together in all of their diverse languages. Again, there is the image of extraordinary activity.
Jerusalem was a trading center. People from all over the region including Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and Parts of Libya traveled into the city to trade, barter with many different languages spoken. Imagine them all gathering in this one dwelling place. A unifying image of the Holy Spirit touching all of them in one fell swoop, pouring out God’s love and message onto them in unison. And today the Holy Spirit continues to pour God’s love and message out to us if we will only be open to receiving it.
This season get caught up in the extraordinary activity of your Church. Take deep breaths of the Holy Spirit and let it fill you with energy, strength and courage to love God and one another and then exhale that Spirit out with your faith in action.
Let the wind of God blow over you, refresh you, and fill you with a loving passion to help God knit together a church, a body of Christ, a world that everyone can be grateful for and that reflects the image of God.
May the power of the Holy Spirit continue to work in us infinitely more than we can ask or imagine as we strive to live the Good News of Jesus Christ and build on God’s desire for us to be healthy, joyful, peaceful, just, and good steward’s of God’s Creation.