The Season of Pentecost

The Season of Pentecost begins in late spring with the Feast of the Pentecost and ends in late November with Christ the King Sunday.

After Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension, his disciples met in Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feast of Shabuoth, the Day of First Fruits, or Feast of Weeks, which falls fifty days after the Passover.

When the disciples had gathered (Acts 2: 1 - 21), the Holy Spirit came down from heaven in tongues of fire and rested on the heads of everyone in the room. All the people began to speak in every language that had ever been heard in Palestine at that time.

Because Pentecost is the day that the Holy Spirit touched ordinary people, the Season of Pentecost focuses on the Spirit and the way in which it touches everyone in the world. One of the ways the Spirit reaches the world is through the Christian church.

And because everyone in the room began to speak about the wonders of God and about the life of Jesus, on Pentecost Sunday we celebrate the birthday of the church, the birthday of ministry, and the birthday of evangelism.

The Feast of the Pentecost is a special time for baptisms and confirmations.

Christians spend the Season of Pentecost looking at the relationship of God with His people as they experience his Holy Spirit. It is a time of outreach, and a time of letting the Spirit flow through each Christian to touch God's creation. Christians go to camp during Pentecost in order to appreciate God's beautiful world. It is also the time they begin to keep their confirmation promise of going into the world to make disciples of all nations.

Pentecost is a time of praise, of fellowship, and of spiritual renewal, as each Christian draws the Spirit into himself or herself with every breath.

The Season of Pentecost is the Season is which Christians develop their relationship with the risen Christ. Festival Days during Pentecost include the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Trinity, Reformation Day, All Saints' Day, and Christ the King.

The color of Pentecost is green.

The Jewish foods of the Pentecost include all the grains of the grain harvest (especially wheat and barley), so sweet breads and eggs are special for the day. In times not very long ago, cows stopped giving milk in to the winter, and chickens stopped laying eggs - the cold weather was too hard on them. In celebration of eating the fresh foods of spring, Pentecost has been the second of the three major religious celebrations since the time of Moses

Many modern Jews eat cheesecake on the Day of Pentecost. Their celebration also includes reading the story of Ruth, a non-Jew who declared her faith in the One God, and thanking God for his gift of the Ten Commandments.

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