Good morning, Trinity-
For many churches, this coming Sunday will be another day of worship. If there’s anything on the calendar to be mindful of, it is that Father’s Day is coming the following week. But some will recognize the day for what it truly is—Pentecost Sunday.
Somewhere, somehow, in my country especially, the church seems more interested in getting in rhythm with a civil calendar. We celebrate moments determined by our surrounding culture—such as Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Veteran’s Day. For some churches. July 4th is bigger than December 25th.
We have gotten out of step. We are patterning our time by these secular days, overlooking a liturgical calendar that was organized in early church history to keep before us the movements of God—the Father sends the Son (Advent); the Son suffers death and is raised (Good Friday and Easter); Jusus returns and the Spirit comes (Ascension and Pentecost); and the rest of the year is a time to reflect on God and his ongoing work.
Some years ago, my former church introduced “Selah Services” (from the Hebrew, selah, to pause). It was our attempt to refocus and restructure the church to view time and memories as God would have us. It was our way of guarding us against reckoning and organizing our time as the world would have us. Some of our most meaningful services include Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday.
If we insist upon honoring the Lord’s Supper monthly, so that we never forget, should we not commemorate the most important days of the year, as determined by God, and do it annually? So be ready—as we look at the work of the Holy Spirit as Jesus taught in the Upper Room.
