June is a very key month of the year. It is the beginning of mid-year for the calendar of the church. The church has now passed through Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent and Easter, all within a six month period emphasizing the great historic and biblical themes about Christ’s birth, death, resurrection and ascension. We now enter the second half of the year, with all six-months under the Season known as Pentecost. We count the Sundays after the Sunday of the Holy Trinity (June 7th this year) as Sundays after Pentecost until we complete our cycle of annual worship.
But for many, it seems, the church year has ended with Pentecost Sunday May 31st. They’ve done their duty, they’ve been faithful throughout the important stuff of the year, like Christmas and Easter, and they’ve been fairly good with their attendance while the kids have been in school. Now its time for a break--a six month long break, except for dropping in occasionally. Or maybe only a three month break, since the kids will be in school again in September.
Of course, summer is a time for vacations and it is a beautiful time to enjoy the sunshine and the outdoors. And most people still have to work through most of the summer, but weekends are a good time to take it easy. Church may not seem to be much of a priority anyway—the choirs don’t sing and there aren’t any major celebrations to attract our attention. So why go to Church and Sunday School, at least so often, in the Season of Pentecost?
Pentecost, however, is as important for Christian worship as all five of the shorter seasons which precede it. In fact the wisdom of the church calendar is reflected in the length of time given to the Season of Pentecost. Such a period and frequency of worship is needed to give adequate balance to the climatic message of the Kingdom of God in Christ upon which we have been so dramatically focused until now.
The themes of Pentecost are as important to our Christian lives as those of Advent and Easter because now we look at our response to the Gospel. Have we been affected by the great truths of God’s Word which we have heard and experienced? Are the vivid images of our Savior’s incarnation and crucifixion imprinted deeply on our hearts and minds so that we carry them with us throughout the year? Does the miracle of the resurrection mean enough to us that we want to celebrate it every Lord’s Day?
The importance of every Sunday in June, July and August lies in the messages and themes that the Season of Pentecost offers. The color of the paraments in the church during this time is green, to signify our growth in the Christian life that has been won for us on the Cross. Our preaching will concentrate on how our lives may be empowered by the Holy Spirit, as were those of the early church under the ministry of the apostles. These lessons are indeed too important for the Christian to ignore or to gloss over just because it is summer time.
We hope this lesson in the meaning of Pentecost for the remainder of the church year will give you added incentive to keep your worship in the fellowship of your church alive and well this summer. For it is a time of refreshing in the wisdom of the Lord when we come together on these quiet Sunday mornings in Pentecost and let our hearts listen to God in the faith we have received.