Sunday, June 8, 2014, Pentecost (full size gallery)
A spirited Pentecost as it should be with 48 present! The weather was warm, not overly hot with plenty of sunshine which works well with the power of the holy spirit. The day lilies are getting ready to bloom. Some a block away toward the river are already blooming. Also down by the river the baby osprey remains in his nest. The magnolias are also blooming since last week.
We had no baptisms but we did salute Tucker Fisher on achieving the God and Family award. Tucker has ambitions of going all the way to becoming an Eagle scout. Congratulations!
Sadly, we bid farewell to the Rev. Amy Turner who started, nurtured and made Godly Play a ministry for children from preschool to 2nd grade. Callie Towler who we hope will take over the position was in attendance in Godly Play along with her family in church, Chip her Dad and Bee her mother and especially her aunt visiting from Hawaii. We had a special reception for Amy after the service which included cakes, cupcakes, strawberries, donut holes, donuts and two types of tea. At the reception Catherine presented Amy with a book of photos prepared and compiled by Barbara Wisdom. You can see it online in this article.
As part of the Pentecost surprise we had plenty of animal type balloons that were sent over the gallery during the offertory "Hail Thee, Festival Day." The children enjoyed these during the reception for Amy. Alex V, back from his military training, was drafted making animals with these balloons.
We also celebrated Mike and Marilyn’s wedding anniversary. Marilyn, in addition, was our Lay Eucharistic minister to Genevieve.
Port Royal tutoring continues this week with the ECW leaving for Richmond in a week and a half.
Catherine’s sermon was on the different accounts of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit contrasting the Book of John and Acts and on the potential for the Holy Spirit in our lives. "So today, this day of Pentecost, is a new beginning, not only for the early church, but also for each one of us because this day is the day that we are called to imagine what can happen when the Holy Spirit suddenly comes roaring into our lives and into this church like the rush of a violent wind, or even like the very breath of Jesus, breathing peace on each one of us."
The Bulletin is here. as well as the readings.
"On this day, we celebrate the Good News and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that has enabled us to receive it and to offer it to others. It has transformed our lives, given us courage and hope in the face of trouble, and reassured us in the knowledge that we are deeply loved by God." – Brothers of SSJE
From the Diocese of Olympia, Canon Lance Ousley "The Wind and Fire of the Holy Spirit is inescapable as we emerge from the waters of Baptism. Paul says it best, "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." Exercising our Spiritual gifts and encouraging others in exercising their Spirit-given abilities is good stewardship for the sake of God’s kingdom being established in the now. An integral part of the Pentecost message is the inclusion of people from "every nation under heaven" gathering us in unity in the Spirit.
Our readings from Acts, Numbers, 1 Corinthians, and John 7 each express the inclusionary reach of the Holy Spirit Fire. In Acts we hear the quote from the prophet Joel, "I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh" and the following litany of peoples from outside the cultural margins that are included in the Spirit’s blaze. In the reading from Numbers the inclusion in the gift of prophesying of Eldad and Medad, the elders of Israel who missed the tent gathering, breaks the bonds of human limitations on who can or cannot receive and exercise spiritual gifts. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, states that whether "Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, we were all made to drink of the same Spirit." In John 7, Jesus extends an inclusionary invitation to join him, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink." This common message fills us with the warmth of our own inclusion, our value and purpose in the mission of the Church. It also opens us to recognize and encourage the inclusion, value and purpose of others’ and their gifts in the Body of Christ."