May 23, 2007

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

This weekend we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, which is sometimes called the "birthday of the Church." On this day the disciples received the Holy Spirit and were empowered to bring Christ's teachings to the world. The disciples who had fled in terror when Jesus was put to death now are emboldened to risk their lives to spread the good news of Christ's resurrection. They are transformed from timorous cowards into bold leaders who bring the message of Jesus to the far corners of the earth.

On Pentecost Sunday, the congregation is invited to wear red, the color of the Holy Spirit. At the 10:30 am service, the Acts of the Apostles will be read in multiple languages to recall the first Pentecost when people from different nations heard the disciples in their own native tongue.

THEME FOR THE DAY OF PENTECOST

The readings, hymns, and prayers focus on the Holy Spirit who enlivens the gathered community and each individual person. 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."

In the reading from Acts 2:1-11, we hear about the imparting of the Holy Spirit to the early Church: "When the day of Pentecost had come, 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. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, 'Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs-- in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power.' "

The reading from 1 Corinthians describes the unity created by 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."

The Gospel from John recounts the teaching of Jesus on the gift of the Holy Spirit: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you."

Jesus is forever with us in the Spirit that dwells within. God is not some distant, unapproachable deity, inaccessible and remote. The God of Jesus is as close to us as our own heart beat, as much a part of us as the air we breathe. And this God loves us more than we love ourselves.

Sincerely,

David A. Killian
Rector

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Worship Services for the Day of Pentecost, May 26-27, 2007

Saturday, May 26, at 5:00 pm: Preacher: The Rev. David A. Killian
Sunday, May 27, at 10:30 am: Preacher: The Rev. David A. Killian
Sunday, May 27, at 6:00 pm: Preacher: The Rev. Leslie K. Sterling

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Weekend and Mid-Week Worship Schedule
For the schedule of worship services for Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday, please click here.

Presentation the Spirituality and Justice Award. The tenth annual All Saints Spirituality and Justice Awared will be presented to Dr. Peter Stringham on June 3 at the 10:30 am Holy Eucharist. Read more about it in the current issue of Saints Alive.

For the Collect of the Day, Scripture Readings, and Psalm, click here.

For a note on the Music at the Sunday 10:30 am service, from All Saints Music Director Donald Teeters, click here.

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 'Episcopal Evening' service 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 website: www.allsaintsbrookline.org.

Many thanks to June Santosa, design, Barbara Bembery, distribution, and the contributors above who produce the All Saints Weekly each week.

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