June's Winds of The Spirit
The Church Year Calendar (that we use to shape Our Savior’s Sunday Worship Experiences) is a wonderful way to remember some important things about what God’s love means in our lives. Sometimes called the “Liturgical Calendar,” it is a powerful way so see and feel and hear the movement of God’s Spirit in our world and on our way. June is a busy month for the “movement,” leaving behind Easter and moving into the growth season of Pentecost. The colors in the Sanctuary will remind us of that movement, starting with red (after the 50 days of white for Easter) and moving to green. The green paraments (or “vestments” or “hangings;” the altar cloths and banners and pastoral stoles) in part are meant to symbolize that growth in God’s Spirit.
But what does it mean?
I recently came up with a small list for Preschool Chapel. Pastor Joy or I meet with the Preschool weekly on Wednesdays and Thursdays for Chapel Time in their classroom. We used to meet in the Chapel by the Sanctuary, but COVID continues to have an effect on how we do things around the church. I miss meeting in the Chapel, but, in a way, having Chapel Time in the Classroom is a wonderful reminder of what and why we have Chapel Time: to bring God/Jesus/The Holy Spirit into the lives of the students and staff.
For Chapel Time during the 2nd to the last week of Preschool, I shared some things I could think of that are “really, really true” about Easter that the Holy Spirit wants to advocate in our lives to help us to remember well enough so that we can live in the power of it. I had the students chant “God loves us when…”
and then I responded with:
the sun shines or it rains
we are happy or we are sad
we are busy or we are bored
we are sleeping or we are awake
we are weak or we are strong
we are fast or we are slow
we tired or we are too wound up
we sneeze or when we blow our noses
we smile or we frown
we laugh or we cry
we are just here
no matter what
no matter when
Some of those examples may be a little too “Preschool-centric” for this article; it never hurts to be reminded of the basics. That power of the Resurrection, contemplated during the Easter Season, gets deepened by the Spirit’s counseling in the weeks ahead. One of the wonderful things about the Spirit doing that “Pentecost Work” She does, is that we get empowered to see and learn and benefit from how true those examples of love are. Then, we get empowered to explore even more, so that we can live in the power of the Spirit well enough for others to see and learn and benefit too.
Our Savior’s Sunday morning worship experiences in June will explore some of what “June’s Wind of the Spirit” means for all of us as we remember the powerful coming and empowering God/Jesus’ Spirit brought to Jesus’ followers on the Day of Pentecost. Next we will wonder, ponder and celebrate a mystery of our faith that is rooted in our experience of Trinity: God is One in Three and Three in One. Then begins the long Church Season of the “Sundays after Pentecost.” In worship in the last two Sundays of June that will mean joining the story of Jesus’ ministry as he deals with demons and then challenges his followers to “really” follow.
The “June’s Wind of the Spirit” will help us journey together to bring life to Our Savior’s Mission, “To know Christ and to have others know Christ” as together we live Our Savior’s shared values of Involvement and Commitment, Hospitality, Friendly and Welcoming, Outreach and Welcome and Spiritual Growth and Needs.
I am on that journey with you.
Pastor Chris
