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We've written previously about the the liturgical wisdom of Star Wars film release dates (Wars - Pentecost).

And now, with a new Star Wars film looming, it seems like a good time to take a look at the new film and see if the pattern holds.

Film and year	US Release Date	Day of Pentecost	Pentecost is
Episode IV (1977)	25 May	29 May	4 days after
Episode V (1980)	21 May	25 May	4 days after
Episode VI (1983)	25 May	22 May	3 days before
Episode I (1999)	19 May	23 May	4 days after
Episode II (2002)	16 May	19 May	3 days after
Episode III (2005)	19 May	15 May	4 days before
Episode VII (2015)	18 December	24 May	208 days prior

Hmm. One of these things is not like the other.

Actually, Pentecost of 2016 is closer to the Episode VII's 2015 release date. It's only 149 days afterward. But still, I don't see the significance of that number either.

Perhaps it's time for a new table?

Film and year	US Release Date	O Antiphon
Episode VII (2015)	18 December	O Adonai

That's better.

Labels: Advent, O Antiphons, Pentecost, Star Wars

It's Pentecost Eve. Let the wild rumpus start!

This video may need to become an annual tradition.

Labels: humor, Pentecost, web

There's a remarkable Vigil service hidden in the Book of Common Prayer, but you have to know just where to find it.

You'd think that the Vigil of Pentecost might be found after the Great Vigil of Easter, but it's not.

In fact, it's not explained within "Proper Liturgies for Special Days" section of the prayer book, but above the first collect for Pentecost.

On page 175, above the Rite I collect, and again on page 227, above the Rite II collect.

The instructions read:

When a Vigil of Pentecost is observed, it begins with the Service of Light, page 109 (substituting, if desired, the Gloria in Excelsis for the Phos hilaron), and continues with the Salutation and Collect of the Day. Three or more of the appointed Lessons are read before the Gospel, each followed by a Psalm, Canticle, or hymn. Holy Baptism or Confirmation (beginning with the Presentation of the Candidates), or the Renewal of Baptismal Vows, page 292, follows the Sermon.

So we're collecting page numbers as we go. It's a scavenger hunt kind of service.

If you consult the prayer book lectionary (page 917) you get these choices:

Genesis 11:1-9 
or Exodus 19:1-9,16-20a;20:18-20 
or Ezekiel 37:1-14 
or Joel 2:28-32
Acts 2:1-11 
or Romans 8:14-17,22-27
John 7:37-39a

Here's where things get really fun. The "ors" in the lectionary don't insist on three lessons the way the rubric for the service does. At face value from the lectionary citation, you could read Genesis, Acts, and then go ahead to the gospel. Note that this is only two lessons, and not three. So, there's a problem here. I would suggest that probably a minimum of two Old Testament lessons should be read.

More on this in our next installment.

Labels: BCP, lectionary, liturgy, Pentecost, The Great Vigil of Easter, The Vigil of Pentecost

¶   Whitsunday.


     Listen sweet Dove unto my song,
     And spread thy golden wings in me;
     Hatching my tender heart so long,
Till it get wing, and flie away with thee.

     Where is that fire which once descended
     On thy Apostles? thou didst then
     Keep open house, richly attended,
Feasting all comers by twelve chosen men.

     Such glorious gifts thou didst bestow,
     That th’ earth did like a heav’n appeare;
     The starres were coming down to know
If they might mend their wages, and serve here.

     The sunne, which once did shine alone,
     Hung down his head, and wisht for night,
     When he beheld twelve sunnes for one
Going about the world, and giving light.

     But since those pipes of gold, which brought
     That cordiall water to our ground,
     Were cut and martyr’d by the fault
Of those, who did themselves through their side wound,

     Thou shutt’st the doore, and keep’st within;
     Scarce a good joy creeps through the chink:
     And if the braves of conqu’ring sinne
Did not excite thee, we should wholly sink.

     Lord, though we change, thou art the same;
     The same sweet God of love and light:
     Restore this day, for thy great name,
Unto his ancient and miraculous right.

Labels: George Herbert, Pentecost, poetry

Christopher Webber reflects on baptism and commercialism:

But then there’s Pentecost, the festival of the Holy Spirit. Where are the merchants on this one? How much action have you seen in the store windows or on television to remind you that Pentecost is coming? If you weren’t a Christian, how would you know? Even if you are a Christian, how would you know? Did you remember it was Pentecost yourself when you came to church today? The fact is, that for all their ingenuity and pursuit of capital gains, no one seems to have figured out how to capitalize on the Holy Spirit. How do you promote Pentecost? What is there to sell?

"Wind and Water", a sermon by Christopher L. Webber

Labels: Pentecost

What's wrong with this picture?

From St. John's, Cambridge's Pentecost webcast page

Labels: Pentecost

You wouldn't know it from the pews this morning, but today was a Major Feast.

Notoriously absent, however, was the crowded candlelight of Christmas, the festive flowers and boisterous bonnets of Easter.

We reach Pentecost, the triumphant, red-letter capstone on our Easter experience, and only a few of us even bother to show up to church.

But maybe that's okay, because the few (yea, dare I say faithful) that show up on Pentecost are perhaps more the church than those people who come for "Once in Royal David's City" and "Jesus Christ is risen today".

Twice-a-year-Christians tangent: We are, by now, very familiar of this tendency of folk to show up to church twice a year, and they pick two of our major feasts. But why those two? Where is the segment of the population that really loves -- and only comes out for -- All Saints and Ascension? Epiphany and Trinity?

But Pentecost doesn't really have it's own theme song, does it? Maybe that's because Jesus is easy to sing about, but Pentecost is different, because he's not really in the center of the picture, and that's sort of the point.

Pentecost, of course, follows Ascension which is that great celebration of the resurrected Christ bidding farewell to any kind of earthly incarnation. And so, where is Jesus, we ask? He's not here, and he's been trying to prepare us for this moment, but it's still a little scary.

Where is Jesus? Well, those of us who showed up for Ascension (and, okay, probably fewer than showed up for Pentecost -- it is on a Thursday, after all) remember that Jesus is very certainly no longer on the earth. And this lack of Christ, the Christ who was a teacher, then a martyr, then an incredible redeemer who unbinds our culture of sacrificial violence and destroys death in the process -- the absence of this Christ is painful.

Where is he? Why did he have to go?

Just as things started to get really scary, we were all comforted.

The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the Advocate, the Comforter -- he/she/it/fire has been sent and kindles our hearts.

And our hearts "freely burn,
till earthly passions turn
to dust and ashes in its heat consuming;

We are redeemed, we are comforted, and now, the whole idea of being in the presence of the Spirit - the Spirit, that, every time you feel it, you will sing -- is that we are set ablaze with love.

Love for our God (Triune you know. Check back next week) and for each other.

Maybe Pentecost scares people because it's a reminder of the hugeness of this gift of redemption and of being Christ's Church.

It's a little scary, that Christ has sent this Holy Spirit to us.

It's freeing, it's satisfying, it's challenging. It's what it's all about.

Labels: Pentecost

Once again, St. Thomas, New York will conduct their veneration of the most blessed variations on "Veni Creator" by Maurice Duruflé on Pentecost Sunday.

This week's service leaflet will only be available for a limited time.

Labels: Duruflé, liturgy, Pentecost, St Thomas (New York)