From the Pastor: Come, Holy Spirit

Dear friends,

This year’s early Easter of course means that Pentecost also comes much sooner than usual—May 11, which also happens to be Mother’s Day this year.

Pentecost has always been regarded as the third great "festival" of the Christian year, after Christmas and Easter. It’s the festival, of course, that still remains the exclusive property of the church. Hallmark doesn’t produce "Pentecost cards," and no stores even offer "Pentecost sales," let alone close their doors for the holiday!

But for the church, it is an important day of grace. On Pentecost we remember the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the discouraged disciples, and the birth of a remarkable energy that led ultimately to the good news of Christ being preached to all the world.

In the Small Catechism, Luther wrote that the Holy Spirit "calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies" the whole Christian church on earth. Those are four important verbs, and I’d like to challenge you to think about them as a kind of evaluative tool for your own life.

First, the Holy Spirit has called you. That happened in your baptism: you were called to follow Christ. The word "vocation" means "calling," and it is an important word in Lutheran theology. What is the Holy Spirit’s calling to you? What is your vocation, your purpose in life? The answer has to do with your profession, perhaps, but more than that. It has to do with your family: what is your calling as father, mother, spouse, son or daughter? It has to do with your community. How is God calling you to serve Christ in this place where you live. It has to do with your church. What part is God calling to you to play here at Peace?

Then the Holy Spirit has gathered you, together with all of us, into this community called Peace Lutheran Church. There’s a reason for that: Christians only grow in faith as they come together to hear the Word of God and receive the Body and Blood of Christ. How is that lived out in your life? Are you regularly at church on the Lord’s Day? Do you pray faithfully for your congregation and for its leaders? Do you give generously in thanksgiving for this community to which you have been gathered?

The Holy Spirit enlightens you. Are you taking advantage of that light? Do you read the Scriptures regularly? Do you take advantage of opportunities at church or elsewhere to learn and grow in your faith?

The Holy Spirit sanctifies you. That’s a big theological word, but it just means that when the Spirit is working in your life, you are growing, not just in your faith, but in your obedience. Are you becoming more patient, more loving? Does that question make you nervous?

The Holy Spirit works in all sorts of ways and in many different places, but the church is the place where the Spirit has promised to be. So if, in thinking about these things, you aren’t quite satisfied with how things are for you right now (and usually, that dissatisfaction is a good thing!), then resolve to recommit yourself to the covenant God made with you in Holy Baptism:

--to live among God’s faithful people;

--to hear his Word and share in his supper;

--to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed;

--to serve all people, following the example of our Lord Jesus; and

--to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.

The liturgical color for Pentecost is red; I invite you to express your openness to the Holy Spirit’s work by wearing red to church on May 11, the Day of Pentecost.

And I hope you will plan to join us for our festive pot luck luncheon after church on Sunday, June 1, when we will have an opportunity to learn about many of the ways that the Holy Spirit is working through our congregation—both through all the programs and opportunities here at Peace, and through the many ways we are serving Christ in our community. There’s more about that elsewhere in this issue!

Peace to you,

Pastor Richard O. Johnson

Classic Prayers

Lord God, dear Father, who on the Day of Pentecost through the Holy Spirit did enlighten and teach the hearts of those who trusted in you: Grant that we may have right understanding through the same Spirit, and at all times rejoice in his comfort and power, forever and ever. Amen.

--Martin Luther

Liturgy Notes: Color

Color is a primary tool of an interior decorator or artists. To the human spirit, different colors suggest different moods and feelings. When we speak of “spring colors,” we don’t mean just the bright colors of spring flowers, but we mean colors that suggest new life, warmth, happiness, joy. At the other extreme, while we don’t always wear black to a funeral any more, we do try to avoid loud, flamboyant colors because they seem to be out of touch with the mood of the occasion. That’s because colors mean something to uss--something that isn’t always easily put into words.

For the same reasons, we use colors in our worship. We Christians believe that worship is more than just words; it involves all our senses in a total intellectual/emotional/sppiritual communion with God. We use colors because they mean seomething about how we feel and what we believe.

The colors also function as a teaching device. Through their silent witness, we learn something about the meaning of the season we are experiencing. In medieval times, when so many people were illiterate, this implication of color was particularly important. But even today, we “learn” with our eyes.

By about the 12th century, the church had begun to utilize particular colors to reflect seasons and themes. This has been a flexible process of development, and even today ideas about the use of color are changing. But the centuries have led to some basic ideas that are shared by many Christian churches.

White is traditionally the m,ost joyous color. This is reflected in some of our secular customs, such as the association of white with weddings. It is also thought of as a color of beauty and purity. We use white on many of our most joyous festival days, such as Easter and Christmas, and we continue their use during the seasons that follow those celebrations. White is also used on the festivals where the divine nature of Christ is emphasized (The Baptism of Our Lord, The Transfirugration, The Holy Trinity, and Christ the King). In some churches, because the day of Easter is the highest and most important day of the year, the color gold is used for that onbe day onbly.

Purple is considered a color of penitence, and it is used in church during Lewnr ro aymbolize the need for personal penitence and preparation for the coming Easter feast. It is also regarded as a color of “royalty,” and during Lent we are focusing on what the kingship of Christ really means (with its crown of tho9rns, and the throne that is a cross). In ancient times, purple was a very costly color because of the dyes necessary to produce it, and this may have suggested the costliness of the sacrifice of Christ.

Purple is also a traditional color for Advent, though in many places (including Peace) blue has become the preferred expression of that pre-Christmas season, based on the tradition in the Swedish church. Advent might be thought of as a time of “night” during which we await the dawn of Christ. Blue has also been a traditional color associated with the Virgin Mary, and of course she figures rather prominently in the Advent season.

Red is associated with the Holy Spirit, in part vbecause the Spirit came upon the apostles with tongues of fire. So it is used at Pentecost, and sometimes at ordinations. Because of its association with martyrdom and sacrifice, it is also used on Passion or Palm Sunday, and on Good Friday, though it is preferable on those days to use a different tone, more likie scarlet.

Green is the most frequent color; it is the church’s “neutral” color when some other color is not used, since it suggests the growth and nurture that is a part of our everyday life in Christ. It is used on most occasions during that long period between Pentecost and Advent, and also during the briefier interval between Epiphany and Lent.

These colors are utilized in different ways--in paraments (the colored cloth or textile hangings on pulpit and altar), in the stoles or other vestments the pastor may wear, in banners or other textile art. Our sense of sight is such an important part of our worship, and the use of color helps us focus on the theme of the liturgy on each Sunday or in each season. What a great gift of God color is!