We need your help!
The Day of Pentecost is May 31. Pentecost is one of the seven principal feasts of the church year in the Episcopal Church (BCP, p. 15). The liturgical color for the feast is red.
It marks the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1), shortly after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, so Pentecost is a day to celebrate the gift of the Spirit. Some understand Pentecost to be the origin and sending out of the church into the world.
If we were able to worship together in person we would all be wearing red, there might be a grand festive procession full of red, yellow, and orange banners and balloons; and a service filled with symbols for the Holy Spirit, including tongues of fire, doves, the rushing of wind, and the speaking in many tongues.
We can still have such a service. We want to offer a worship service that will visually unite us all even as we remain separated out of love for our neighbors and ourselves. But we need your help, and most importantly, your participation.
Here are two ways you can be a part of this festive Pentecost service — a procession-at-home and The Dove Initiative. We invite you to consider both.
Festive Procession-at-home
We invite all the people of the diocese to create a festive procession-at-home. The processional music is Hail thee, festival day! Pentecost, 225 in the Hymnal. The procession can consist of one person, or an entire family. Pets can be included. If you can’t process, record yourself in your chair using your phone, wearing red and perhaps waving a festive banner.
We aren’t seeking perfection, we are seeking your lovely faces and loving presence.
Instructions for processions-at-home:
Decide what you want to include in your procession. You might:
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- make festive hats using Pentecost colors of red, yellow, and orange to symbolize the tongues of fire of the Holy Spirit
- put red, yellow, and orange ribbons on poles to wave about
- find bells and chimes to ring
- make fans to create the rush of air of the Holy Spirit’s passing
- Or whatever else the Holy Spirit inspires you to do!
- On another device (phone, tablet) go to the video of Hail thee, Festival Day at https://youtu.be/hhRQmf2S0zM The lyrics are in the information below the video, so you can sing it if you wish.
- Wear red.
- Designate who do the recording. If it’s just you, simply prop the phone (horizontally!) on a level surface and press record.
- As you process, move from left to right on the screen.
- Phones must be held horizontally for recording the procession-at-home. Make sure you clean your lens, or the video will be blurry.
- The recording should be only 15 to 20 seconds long.
- Remember, you can do it more than once if you aren’t happy with the first try.
- Recordings of processions-at-home should be sent to Katie.sherrod@edotn.org by May 22. If your recording is too long to email, email Sherrod and she will send you a Dropbox folder to which you can upload the recording.
This will give us time to edit the processions together.
the Dove initiative
Here’s our goal – that every congregation AND every family in the diocese (and yes, one person can be a family) be represented in the Pentecost service by a paper dove.
How? Make a dove out of paper [see examples below], put the name of the congregation or the family on it, and deliver it or mail it to St. Luke’s in the Meadow by Friday, May 22. The doves will decorate the church for the videotaping of the service. With your help, we can pull this off.
Use the example below (or find your own) and make a paper dove. If you are unable to make a dove, ask a friend to make one for you.
Example: Paper dove https://www.instructables.com/id/Paper-dove-bird-ornament/
- The doves can be white, red, yellow, or orange.
- Write your name on the dove.
- Those in the Fort Worth area can bring dove(s) and put them in the marked box at the corner of Somerset Drive and Lambeth by the St. Luke’s parking lot on Friday May 8, 15, or 22 between 10 am and 1 pm. 4Saints Episcopal Food Pantry food distribution hours will have begun so there will be cars lined up for that.
- Mail doves to EDFW, 4301 Meadowbrook Drive, Fort Worth, TX 76103. The mail is checked daily Monday through Friday.
- The deadline is Friday, May 22. This will give us time to decorate the church.
Again, all are invited to take part in both activities.