Whitsunday or Pentecost?

This Sunday, May 19, is the Day of Pentecost, which is often called “the birthday of the church”.  On this day we remember the first appearance of the Holy Spirit which empowered the disciples and allowed them to go out and become the church in the world.

Pentecost always falls on the fiftieth day after Easter, and the old Book of Common Prayer says that this day is “commonly called WHITSUNDAY”.    This name is confusing, because “Whitsunday” literally means “white Sunday”, though the liturgical colour is red for the flames of the Holy Spirit that descend on the apostles (see Acts 2:3).  So why the name Whitsunday?

A brief dive into early church history tells us that while new believers being instructed in the faith (called catechumens) were usually baptized on the Vigil of Easter (the Saturday before Easter Sunday).   However, those who weren’t ready by the Vigil were baptized on Pentecost, when they received new white robes to symbolize their new identity as Christians.

In the Anglo-Catholic tradition, Whitsunday is the preferred name and it is seen as a day when we remember the gifts of the Holy Spirit which include the traditional seven sacraments (though the Thirty Nine Articles only recognizes two, Baptism and Communion, as “ordained by Christ” (BCP p. 708).  

In the old Prayer Book calendar, “Whitsuntide” runs from Pentecost/Whitsunday to Trinity Sunday, and includes three “Ember Days” (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday) when we pray for those who “are called to any office or administration in the church”.   

While many congregations often are asked to wear red for Pentecost Sunday, it is also appropriate to wear white in memory of the older name of Whitsunday.   So come to church wearing red, or white, or both, and you’ll be fine!

L.M. Sacasas on that Apple iPad and the Things of a Good Life

There's so much to read and follow online but I'm glad I made time to read this SubStack essay by L.M. Sacasas on that horrific iPad advertisement showing creative things crushed in a hydraulic press and turned into a new, slightly thiner device.   I say horrific deliberately, and I'm an Apple guy from way back.

Sacasas puts his finger on why so many people found that ad, well, horrific, and offers some important thoughts on the good things in life that technology can deprive us of.   Read the essay here.

Remembering Julian of Norwich

 

Today, May 8, is the feast day of Julian of Norwich, and for those of you who have been participating in Lent Madness, you will recall that of 32 hopefuls, Julian won the Golden Halo in this year's competition.   A silly game but a useful way to get to know some heroes of the faith.

Lately in sermons and in a piece in last week's parish newsletter, All Saints Alive, I've shared a few passages from Julian's writings.   Here are a couple of things I've found in today's reading.

In a sermon from 2018, Brother David Vryhof of the Society of St John the Evangelist offers an engaging and accessible introduction to Julian's life, times, and thought, found here.

In a video from YouTube, English church explorer Simon Knott gives us a tour of St Julian's church, which became the home of Julian when she became an anchorite, found here.

Finally, the Collect for the feast day of St. Julian.

Collect

Source and Partner of the eternal Word,
who brought to birth in the Lady Julian
many visions of your nurturing and sustaining love, move our hearts, we pray,
to seek your will above all things,
that we may know the joy of your gifts
and embrace the gift that is simply yourself;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
our Saviour, Brother, and Mother,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.