Day of Pentecost

It's Pentecost.  It's a glass-half-empty-glass-half-full kind of Holy Day.  It's the beginning of a loooong "green" church season.  I mean really long; the next liturgical season is Advent, which comes about 6 weeks before Christmas.  Long.  A little history:

Pentecost was originally an Old Testament festival, since the time of Josephus calculated as beginning on the fiftieth day after the beginning of Passover. In the Christian calendar, it falls on the seventh Sunday after Easter. It was called the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), and in the Old Testament was originally an agricultural festival celebrating and giving thanks for the "first fruits" of the early spring harvest (Lev 23, Exod 23, 34).
While there are other references to Pentecost in the New Testament (e.g. 1 Cor 16:8), it is most significant in Acts 2 and the familiar scene of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on those in the "upper room." The New Testament writers associate the events of Acts 2 with Pentecost, and relate it to the prophecies of Joel 2 and promises of Jesus (Acts 1:8). In both, the emphasis is on a empowerment through the Holy Spirit to enable the people of God to witness to Jesus the Christ.

Now, to my personal glass-almost-all-the-way-full view of the day.  When I think about it, I have some trouble with the concept of the three-in-one Trinity.  My bad.  My God forgives me.  I anthropomorphise the godhead. (There is the whole is Jesus-wholly-human-wholly-divine concept to deal with, too, but I will blissfully ignore that for now.)  I am most comfortable with the Holy Spirit.  I have been touched by it and I believe that when I ask for God's help that help is delivered by the Spirit.  I see the Spirit as God's presence on Earth.  So today is the day that commemorates that.  Pretty darn cool.  As my friend, Linda, has said, "Yea, God!"  

Now, in my simple little world, God-the-father, Abba, gave us this world to care for and enjoy.  Yesterday evening I enjoyed it in abundance from my hammock...here's the view (please imagine an aviary full of birdsong).  OK, the view is at the top.  Sorry, just go back and look at it again...and be thankful, with me, that this is, indeed, the day the Lord has made.  Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!