By the time we reach the first Sunday of June, we will have left the season of Easter and moved to the celebration of Pentecost. Pentecost marks the birthday of the church of Jesus Christ, a remembrance of how the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples, jump-starting the mission of the church. Depending on how you date the first Easter, we would require either 1,989 or 1,992 candles on the church’s birthday cake (I’m favoring 1,989). In any event, that’s a lot of birthdays.
Despite challenges, setbacks, and failures, the church continues. It continues not as a result of our skill or cleverness but by the abiding presence of God through the Holy Spirit. Individual congregations may have their moment on the stage and will fade into obscurity, but the church, as a whole, will continue in one form or another. Jesus promised us that.
As I mentioned in last month’s letter, the day of Pentecost will give us many reasons for celebration. At the 8:30 a.m. service we will be recognizing our graduates and at 10:30 a.m. service we will be celebrating the Rite of Confirmation with members of our third-year class. In keeping with the spirit of the day, I am encouraging people to wear the liturgical color of the day: red. Red symbolizes the tongues of fire that were present when the Holy Spirit was poured out. I hope that you can join us for one of the two services as we celebrate the birthday of the church.
Shifting gears, I want to lift up the fact that the musical, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Nineveh,” is set to perform at church on July 15th (7:30 p.m.), July 16th (7:30 p.m.), and July 17th (2:00 p.m.). Freewill offerings will be received at all performances for “Project Nineveh,” which will support both Ukrainian refugee relief and the Plymouth Food Pantry. This project has been five years in the making, and I look forward to sharing the production with you and the rest of the Plymouth community.
For the time being, that’s all for the front page. The rest of the newsletter will contain other items of interest that you’ll want to note, but I’m done, here.
Have a blessed summer season (when it eventually gets here) and don’t forget to nourish your spiritual side in these days.
Shalom aleichem—Peace be with you.
Rev. Jim Hoppert
