Friends,
I have a few things to share about this weekend and beyond.
First, in honor of Memorial Day weekend, you will find an opportunity in the foyer to write the names of those whom you remember this weekend and hang it up with others. As you enter the front doors, there is a table to your right, on which are small cards, markers, and clothespins (small and teeny). Feel free to write a name, a thought, a memory – whatever is on your heart this weekend, and attach it to the fishnets. It will be lovely way to honor those whom we remember this weekend and to do so alongside of one another.
Second, I happened to meet someone yesterday who is a shopkeeper from Bethlehem. As a Palestinian Muslim, Adnan Subeh has seen his business devastated by the Israeli attacks on Gaza. While Bethlehem itself has not been under attack, shopkeepers like Adnan are dependent on tourism and that industry has dried up considerably. Adnan is being hosted by a pastor friend of mine, who is bringing him to our Saturdays @ 5 worship service and to Muldoon’s after. Since he is in the US to sell his wares, he will briefly share some of his experience with us and will have a table outside just outside of the sanctuary.
Finally, the Season of Pentecost is coming soon and I invite you to prepare for it. The story of Pentecost in Acts 2 is chock full of symbolism – wind, spirit, breath (all three of those symbols are from one word, pneuma), fire, languages, and the Spirit which is symbolized throughout the gospels as a dove. In addition, the language of the story is the language of abundance, with references to “all of them” and “each of them,” a long list of other countries from which the participants came, as well as “young and old,” “men and women.” As we live the story today, we can imagine – in keeping with the spirit of Pentecost – even broader terms that would include non-binary, trans, differently-abled, and marginalized folk that are often overlooked. And there is no shortage in our own communities of diverse languages, ethnicities, and places of origin. The Pentecost story is a marvelous story because we can easily imagine the power of this Spirit in our own time. It is a story of “renewable energy,” so to speak.
I have decided to dedicate the entire month of June’s worship services to visiting and revisiting this story. We’ll start on the weekend of May 31 and June 1, when we look at the agricultural backstory of Pentecost as we celebrate communion. Pentecost weekend itself is June 7-8, then we’ll have three more weekends to revel in the renewable energy of this story. And here is how you can prepare.
1. Write a prayer for peace. You can write a letter, a poem, a haiku; or make a flyer, draw a picture, or create something that I don’t have the imagination to name here. It needs to be on flat paper and no larger than 8.5 x 11. The Worship Commission will install a large dove on the chancel, and we want to cover it with your prayers for peace. Please create your prayer and bring it by next weekend, May 31-June 1.
2. Plan to wear red on Pentecost weekend, June 7 and 8. Something. Anything. You’ll look mahvelous!
3. Pray for a Revival of Justice. That is what Pentecost is all about and that is why the church so desperately needs to return to this story again and again.
More to come,
Mark of St. Mark
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