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Pentecost: Understanding one another at the soul level

Pentecost: Understanding one another at the soul level

The feast of Pentecost commemorates the release of the Holy Spirit. It is long thought of as the birthday of the church. Scripture records the first Pentecost as happening when people were gathered in one place (Acts 2:1). My guess is that they gathered outside, partly because there were far too many people to be contained indoors and partly because the Spirit, which in Hebrew is Ruah (or breath or wind of God), is most manifest outside.

This Pentecost Sunday, May 19, we will gather as a diocese outside to be blessed by the Spirit, to celebrate its power – and to witness to that same Spirit to the city of Newark. I invite you, your family, your congregations, mission partners and neighbors to join me on Pentecost Sunday, May 19 at 3 p.m. as the Diocese of Newark will celebrate the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the center of the city. This worship service to be held outside next to Trinity & St. Philip's Cathedral, in downtown Newark.

It will feature “paperless” music led by Marilyn Haskel, Music Associate at Trinity Church, Wall Street, along with the choir from Church of the Incarnation in Jersey City. Members from our congregations will be reading prayers in several different languages, reflecting the diversity (Pentecost) of our diocese; and a Chinese Dance Troupe based at an Episcopal Church in New York City will dance and drum in the spirit of Pentecost. The Rev. Dr. William Howard, Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Newark, member of the Board of Trustees of Rutgers University and former President of New York Theological Seminary, will be the preacher.

Congregations are invited to bring a small, portable item that symbolizes their ministry and mission, to be presented for blessing at the service, which can be taken back to our local communities as signs of our solidarity in the Spirit. Congregations are also invited to bring along thuribles, streamers and dove kites to use during the service. And of course, attendees are invited to wear RED! For more information please contact the Rev. Ginny Dinsmore, the new Coordinator for Missional Church Strategy for the diocese.

The Holy Spirit brings people together – so that they can understand one another at the soul level. That is what happened on that first Pentecost as recorded in Acts. Some 2000 years later, we will stand and sing and in the presence of that same Spirit – to be blessed and sent to carry on the Spirit’s work.

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