Pew Sheet – 5th June 2022
The Rector writes ‘Thank you so much to Hilary, Helen & Hazel and all the helpers at last week’s Plant & Coffee morning. We were blessed with good weather and as well as enjoying a great morning of just sitting outside chatting and drinking coffee, we also made a substantial amount (€1,200) towards parish funds… thank you all! And of course, when I say ‘we’ , I mean ‘you’ because I was actually not there… up in Dublin for the weekend where I had a lovely relaxing time with my daughter.
Today is the day of Pentecost (and more about that inside these pages) and all over the world churches are all decked out in ‘red’ to symbolize the coming of the Holy Spirit.
As we move into summer mode, I hope that you manage to get a decent break this year after what has been really a fairly horrendous couple of years.’
Pentecost
On the Day of Pentecost the Christian Church celebrates the gift of God’s Holy Spirit given to God’s holy people.
The name comes from the Greek word pentekoste which means fiftieth. The holiday is celebrated on the Sunday after Ascension which is also fifty days after Easter, hence the name.
The Jewish feast of Pentecost (Shavuot) was primarily a thanksgiving for the first fruits of the wheat harvest, but it was later associated with a remembrance of the Law given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. The church’s transformation of the Jewish feast to a Christian festival was thus related to the belief that the gift of the Holy Spirit to the followers of Jesus was the first fruits of a new dispensation that fulfilled and succeeded the old dispensation of the Law.
The feast was also known as White Sunday (Whitsunday) for the special white garments worn by those newly baptized on that day. In the first Book of Common Prayer of Edward VI (1549), the feast was officially called Whitsunday, and this name has continued in Anglican churches. Priests often wear red vestments at Pentecost to symbolize the “tongues of fire” that descended on the disciples from the Holy Spirit on that day, in some places members of the congregation sometimes wear red as well , and the altar is commonly dressed in a red frontal cloth.
In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke describes the promised outpouring of the Spirit and the beginning of the Church’s mission as occurring in Jerusalem during this feast.
The accounts in Acts 2:1-4 text, which is always read on the day of Pentecost. depicts the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples assembled together.
This assembly of the disciples emphasizes an important point: From the beginning, the experience of the Holy Spirit has been a corporate experience. Individuals as members of the Body of Christ participate in this experience, but the power of the Spirit is given for the life of the Church.
Two key words referring to the coming of the Holy Spirit are promise and power. The promise of Jesus to send the Helper to the disciples was fulfilled, and the power of the Helper was bestowed, in the upper room at Pentecost.
Fire and wind are signs of the Spirit’s power as fire and wind signify God’s power throughout the Old Testament. God goes before the people as a pillar of fire in the exodus; God sends a wind to part the Red Sea before them.
God’s power is now seen in the Pentecost story as the apostles proclaim Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected.
The gift of being able to understand each other in languages formerly unknown is a sign that God’s word is no longer limited to one people or one place, one language or one race, but is now available to all people everywhere.
Beginning today, we are returning to the practise of passing the Offertory Baskets around the pews during the ‘offertory’ hymn. Thank you for your generosity.
10th June Friendship Club in the Parish Hall
11-12:30. All welcome for a cup of tea and a chat.
12th June 9:30 Service in St John’s Church, Sunday Club Prizegiving at 11am Service in St Mary’s Church. 7pm Choral Evensong in St John’s Church.
19th June United Service at 11am in St Mary’s Church including the ‘Service of Light’ for our 12
Confirmation candidates. As it is World Refugee Week, our Guest Speaker is Sr Jo McCarthy from Cork Migrant Centre. Sr Jo will then officially open the week long Photographic Exhibition in the Parish Hall.
26th June United Service at 11am in St John’s Church Our 12 candidates will be confirmed by the Bishop. Please note that there will be no 11am Livestream on this day.
Random Notes CDXXVII
| Words | Meanings |
| BEBLUBBERED | Disfigured by weeping |
| BUMBLE-PUPPY | Unscientific bridge/whist |
| CLAMJANDERING | Gossip |
| CALLIESHANGLE | An uproar |
| DUMBLEDORE | An owl |
| DUNDERFUNK | A ship’s biscuit |
| FIMBLEFAMBLE | A false excuse |
| FIZGIG | A harpoon |
| GONGOOZLER | An idle observer |
| GROWLERY | A refuge in times of ill-humour |
| HEN-HUSSY | A man who meddles in women’s affairs |
| TAGHAIRM | Divining the future, especially by lying in a bullock’s hide behind a waterfall. |
| LOB-LIE-BY-THE-FIRE | In folklore, a benevolent creature who may secretly help with housework in return for a bowl of cream. |
MMPC
Social Networks:
