[Worship] PENTECOST--OUR COLLECTIVE BIRTHDAY

["Charity" <choirangel@excite.com>]

DEAR FESTIVE LIST-ONES--

CHRIST IS RISEN!    

As you well know, the Festival of Pentecost will soon arrive on June 8, 2003. Most of us know "what happened on the Day of Pentecost" in the biblical account. Some of us grew up in churches that observed this feast in some manner or other--yet, most of us do not know the full Old Testament background and  history of the festival. Sermons abound on the meaning of Pentecost, how we can apply the insights of Pentecost to our lives, why it's necessary to have an encounter with the Holy Spirit, the call to missions and the anointing of the Holy Ghost to spread the gospel, evangelism as a response to the Spirit's call to heed the Great Commission, etc. We have ample material on the SIGNIFICANCE of Pentecost, but little knowledge about the FESTIVAL ITSELF.

    This is the first in a series of posts about Pentecost, designed to give a more comprehensive view of the festival and its development, how it was celebrated in times past by both Jews and Christians (Jewish and Gentile), and resources for creative celebration TODAY. I have compiled this information over the years, and my own personal enjoyment of Pentecost has steadily grown as I experimented with worship forms and music, adding a little more each year as I learned something new.    

I look forward to Pentecost and find it eminently satisfying to celebrate the culmination of the Easter season with anyone and everyone in the Body of Christ--and the results of all the years of research have made me a Certified Christian Festival Freak of the First Magnitude.*(Now, you, too, can be one AND be "liturgically correct"!:-)However, research has other benefits, and I have discovered the joy of exploring all the rich themes of this holy day and being forced to be more creative in many directions I had never dreamed of--when I first wore that red dress and choreographed a simple red streamer routine for my choristers at an Assemblies of God church in Ohio, I had no idea that God would work in and through the choral ministry with children to expand festivity  to "Christendom at large."

Most of us discover this as we work in worship ministries--
Jesus has a way of surprising us and "growing" us; the Spirit  of God tends to stretch us beyond where we are "now" and<br>> launches us into new avenues of worship, evangelism and fellowship. So now that I'm a Black Pentecostal Pentecost Festival Fanatic* (working in a little Presby church), I've hopefully become a more celebratory Christian with a little more insight into our great God and His plan of redemption!

Permission is given to anyone to forward, print out, photocopy and distribute ANY and ALL of this information to ANYONE who  needs/can use it. So please feel free to pass this on to clergy, worship leaders, musicians, dancers, Christian education teachers, actors, artists and whoever you know could benefit! If you can use this for your bulletin, go right ahead. If you can beam it by satellite to Christians in countries that forbid Christianity, then by all means, TRANSMIT! If you want to download to disks and zip drives, and then upload to Christians who otherwise would not have access--especially our persecuted brothers and sisters in repressive countries--GO UPLOAD THE DOCUMENTS IN JESUS' NAME, with my blessing! :-)And please don't "go heathen" and SELL this to anyone, or make them PAY to get it..."freely you have received, freely give!" If you need to translate anything into another language, please do so.

Have a blessed Great Fifty Days and a fabulous Pentecost!

Charity Dell
JubilateDeo@ureach.com
"Jubilate Deo omnis terra!" (Psalm 100:1)

*Anyone can join these wonderful "self-anointed/appointed" organizations--just print up some union cards for your own local chapter...:-)

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