“Pentecost is the season of the Holy Spirit”
By the Right Reverend Thomas Clark Ely, Bishop of Vermont
Mountain Echo, June 2002
At the start of this Pentecost season, I’d like to share with you some of my thoughts about what the season of Pentecost means to me.
Pentecost is the season of the Holy Spirit. It is a long season, stretching through the lengthening days of summer and into the autumn. The opening color of this season is red. On May 19th we celebrated the feast of Pentecost, the gift of God’s Holy Spirit to the Church, “birthing” the Church, coming like fire to cleanse and stir our hearts. One week later we changed to the color white on Trinity Sunday, a day for bearing witness to the various ways we experience God, as well as the relational nature of God—a God of “community.” One week later the color of the Pentecost season changed for the balance of the season to green, the color of life and growth for a Church filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Pentecost is the season of the Church. Pentecost is the season in which we remember and celebrate our mission and ministry as the Body of Christ. Pentecost is a time for hearing familiar Bible stories: stories of covenant, of community, of discipleship and of mission. It is a time for thinking about our stories and connecting our stories to God’s story. It is the season for living ever more fully into the promises and commitment of baptism as disciples of Jesus and companions along the journey of God’s reconciling mission.
Pentecost is a season for thinking about ministry in daily life, a season for considering all the many opportunities we have for sharing Christ’s love, compassion, mercy and peace. It is a season of abundant occasions for engaging more deeply in Christ’s ministry of justice and reconciliation. It is a season for celebrating all the ways in which we reach out to others and it is a season for renewing our commitment to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves.”
Pentecost is a season of thanksgiving. The United Thank Offering (UTO) and Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) are two of the many “Pentecost” ways in which we can give thanks and participate in God’s mission at the same time. These two opportunities for financial and personal giving are among the most effective means we have as the church for working together to make a difference. During my trip in March to Honduras with some young people from our Diocese and Rock Point School, I saw first hand the tremendous effect of our mission support through ERD. And, we just received word that St. Paul’s, Vergennes, is the recipient of a 2002 UTO grant for handicap accessibility. I hope you will give thanks and be generous whenever these appeals are made in your congregation.
Pentecost is a season of encouragement, and I want to use this season of Pentecost to thank you and encourage you to be generous with your time and talent and treasure in support of your local church and its ministry, as well as our common ministry as a diocese. One of the things I continue to learn in this episcopal ministry among you is that there is so much ministry taking place in and through the Episcopal Church in Vermont. I celebrate that with you, not to encourage us to be content, but to acknowledge the strength of our witness to Christ and encourage our continued growth in mission.
What does the season of Pentecost mean to you? I’d like to hear.
+ Thomas
Copyright ® 2002, The Episcopal Diocese of Vermont. All rights Reserved.