May 9, 2008
Dear Parishioners and Friends,
Welcome to the All Saints Weekly which some of you are receiving for the first time. We recently updated our email list and with this issue we are using an email distribution service, Constant Contact. This new service will help us update our email addresses more efficiently and accurately. Please confirm that your email address is correct by using the verification box above. And please give us your feedback on the All Saints Weekly which presents the Scripture readings for the coming Sunday as a way of helping you enter more fully into worship.
This Sunday we will celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, which is sometimes called "the birthday of the church." On this day, fifty days after Easter, the disciples of Jesus experienced the power of the Holy Spirit which gave them courage to boldly proclaim the good news of Christ's resurrection. The disciples were empowered to become leaders of the Jesus movement. To be sure, these first Christians considered themselves faithful Jews and they did not intend to form a new religion. They were simply Jews who believed that the Messiah had come in the person of Jesus. In the first generation these Jewish Christians continued to worship in the Temple and were considered another Jewish sect. The Christian Jewish community began to admit Gentiles, whom they did not require to observe circumcision and dietary laws. With the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., Judaism forged an identity in the synagogue not linked to sacrifices in the Temple. Christian Jews forged their identity as well as those who welcomed Gentile members. Gradually, Jewish Christians with their Gentile members grew apart from other Jews and came to be seen as a separate religion. The feast of Pentecost recalls the first year of the early Church when Jews who believed in Jesus were perceived as fully incorporated in the larger Jewish community.
THEME FOR THE FEAST OF PENTECOST
Jesus entrusted his disciples with the responsibility of sharing the message of God's inclusive love with the entire world. How could these simple, unlettered and undistinguished ordinary people accomplish such a momentous task? Not by their own strength, they believed, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. Today's feast celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit to the first Christians 2,000 years ago and to us today. In the Collect we pray: "Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."
The reading from Acts tells the story of the first Pentecost: "The disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability." (Acts 2:1-21)
Psalm 104 proclaims the power of the spirit of God: "O LORD, how manifold are your works! in wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Yonder is the great and wide sea with its living things too many to number, creatures both small and great. . . . All of them look to you to give them their food in due season. You give it to them; they gather it; you open your hand, and they are filled with good things. You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; and so you renew the face of the earth."
The first letter of Paul to the Corinthians praises of the unifying power of the Holy Spirit: "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free -- and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:3b-13)
In the Gospel from John Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to his disciples: "Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.' When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.'" (John 20:19-23)
At our Pentecost celebrations this weekend, we invite you to wear red, the color of the Holy Spirit. The reading from the Acts of the Apostles will be in multiple languages as we recall the first Pentecost and pray that Spirit may gather us together in peace and love. Please join us for the celebration of the Eucharist Saturday at 5 pm, Sunday at 10:30 am, and Sunday at 6 pm.
Sincerely,
David A. Killian
Rector
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Worship Services for the Feast of Pentecost, May 10-11, 2008
Saturday, May 10, at 5:00 pm - Preacher: The Rev. Leslie K. Sterling
Sunday, May 11, at 10:30 am - Preacher: The Rev. Leslie K. Sterling
Sunday, May 11, at 6:00 pm - Preacher: The Rev. Leslie K. Sterling
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EVENTS at All Saints Parish
For a schedule of worship services, please click here. For information about the Faith Formation Discussion Group that will meet on May 28, please click here.
For the Collect of the Day, Scripture Readings, and Psalm, click here. Please note that the we are now using the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) readings.
For a Story from this Sunday's Gospel by Becky Taylor, Director of Children's Youth, and Family Ministry, click here.
For a note on the Sunday 6:00 pm 'Sunday Evening Contemplative Eucharist' from Assistant Rector, the Rev. Leslie K. Sterling, click here.
To browse past issues of the All Saints Weekly, click here.
For "All Saints Smiles" and news about events, activities, programs, ministries and the staff of our parish, please click on the All Saints web site: www.allsaintsbrookline.org.
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