The Feast of the Pentecost

All the Lord's Followers Were Together in One Place

Acts 2: 1

The disciples had gone through the sadness of Holy Week, the confusion of Easter and the Forty Days, and the final appearance of Jesus at the Ascension together, and they continued their fellowship on the Jewish festival of Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks.

They all met together in one room, which may have been the Upper Room, which may have been in the house of the mother of John Mark

With our easy access to modern supermarkets, we lose much of the seasonal rhythms of eating, but in Jesus' day (and not too long ago in our own history), cows went dry until the calves were born in the spring, and hens became too cold and too hungry to lay eggs.

So the Feast of the Pentecost was the feast of milk and eggs, with freshened cows giving milk again and hens laying eggs, eaten with salads made of the first vegetables to grow in the garden.

It is hard for us to imagine a winter of dried and salted foods with no milk nor eggs, but the fulfilled desire for fresh foods became a celebration thousands of years ago.

Modern Jews eat cheesecake or blintzes at Pentecost, and we can too - or we can decorate the Disciple Eggs or make Sweet Yogurt.

And a snack of milk and cookies would be just fine, as we say grace, giving thanks for all the good food God gives us.

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