Joy is so wrapped up in Pentecost! It is celebrated 50 days after Easter and means 50. It is the Greek name for the Old Testament spring harvest festival known as the Feast of Weeks. The Israelites celebrated it 7 weeks after Passover. It is ten days after Jesus went back to heaven in the clouds.

In Acts 2, you can read about the day of Pentecost. Swoosh, like a big gust of wind, the Holy Spirit swirled into the room and came on everyone in the house. It looked like a fiery tongue over each person’s head. Zap! Peter, John, and the others all felt different. God’s powerful Holy Spirit was in them and they wanted to shout with joy! People outside thought they must be drunk. People had crowded into the city of Jerusalem to celebrate the spring harvest. They traveled from many lands and spoke many different languages. Peter stood at a window and spoke about Jesus to the huge crowd. Something amazed everyone who heard. When Peter spoke, each person heard his words in their own language. Peter spoke in one language. The miracle came from God, a miracle of tongues!

At that moment the Holy Spirit gave them power and the gift of tongues where they could speak in their language but be heard by others in their own languages. 3000 people were baptized that day. We celebrate it as the beginning of the Christian church. What a joyful day!

Use red balloons and a cake to celebrate the birth of the church. Fill a piñata with little treasures to celebrate gifts. Celebrate by wearing red for the fiery tongues. Make tissue paper tongues. Attach the paper tongues to sticks and twirl them for the rushing in of the Holy Spirit. Use them to dance to praise music.

More activities to do

• Decorate with doves, a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
• Read about the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5:22. Talk about those special fruits and enjoy fruit salad.
• Share white foods as reminders of Jesus going into the clouds (marshmallows, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, milk, white chocolate).
• Look at a picture of a Shamrock. St Patrick used the three leaves on one plant to teach about the Trinity.
• Wear white for Ascension for the white clouds, and red on Pentecost for the fiery tongues, and wear three colors on Trinity Sunday as a reminder of three persons in one God.

Thanks for reading

Karen Whiting

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