Seeing and believing, walking in faith

We are now entering the longest season of the year: Pentecost. The season of discipleship – of learning and growth, seeing and believing, walking in faith. Right through to Christ the King on November 20. The lectionary readings follow a pattern of discipleship through till the Fall when they switch up to teaching about peace and justice. In September, we will follow, as usual, the lectionary for the seasons of creation: this year, the themes will be ocean, fauna, storm & cosmos, and I know Diane and Becky will set up beautiful Stations for us to reflect on these themes as they develop each week.

However, I am writing this at the beginning of Pentecost, whilst preparing for our VBS. We will be following the ‘TryPraying’ syllabus, and looking at prayer for thanksgiving, for hard times, and for praying anywhere. Also, I shall be threading those themes into our liturgical prayers, having discovered a lovely children’s version of our Book of Common Prayer . You all know that we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension 10 days before Pentecost, and I wanted to share with you the collect for that day from this children’s BCP:

God of all times and all places, when you arrived in Christ Jesus you began to bring heaven down to earth, and when you departed you began to draw earth up to heaven: bless us so that we may continue to worship you joyfully in the power of the Holy Spirit, inviting all the people of the earth to become part of your heavenly kingdom. Amen.

Do you hear the Lord’s Prayer in this as well? We pray at every service – Eucharist, Compline, Morning & Evening Prayer- that God’s will come ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’ And the Feasts of the church show us God’s response. Listen to the collect for Pentecost:

Creator of speech and silence, Holy Spirit of water, fire and wind, we give you thanks for all the languages of the earth: fill our souls and the Church with your holy flame and bless our tongues to tell the world of the love that unites us all. Amen.

And the delightful collect for Trinity Sunday:

Holy Trinity, dancing mystery, you are the Light from Light, and we worship you as one God: Lover, Beloved, Love. Open our eyes to see that we are your children; open our hearts to the life of Jesus, your Son; and our mouths to breath of your Spirit. Amen.

So, may we go into this new Pentecost season, wherever we find ourselves and in everything that happens, aware of heaven touching earth and earth reaching heaven, of our language and our silence, and the mystery of the dance of the Lover, the Beloved and Love!

Be blessed,
Rev Helen