"Spirit of Truth"

Pentecost is the birthday of the church, the celebration of the Holy Spirit, one of the most important Sundays of the year.  But, up until Friday night I wasn’t sure I was going to have anything to say today. Graham kept telling me not to worry about it, that everyone would understand.  But I worry about things like that.  I wanted to be able to say something about how the Holy Spirit works. Well, I came up with something, but let me put it in perspective.

This week has been a kind of crescendo of the past four or five months of preparation for our move.  Dave Greene organized a caravan of trucks and trailers and a lot of volunteers, and for several days in a row everything in the parsonage was moved in mass three miles south, to Bellview Avenue, out near Tollman Creek Road.

It was on Wednesday, when I just happened to drop by the office for a minute, that Alice asked if I realized that I hadn’t prepared a bulletin, or even given her a scripture or sermon title.  “It’s Pentecost, you know,” she said.  “Oh, yeah,” I responded.  “Put down ‘Spirit of Truth’ for a title and I’ll think of something.”  Then we went back to packing.

A couple of hours later John Price backed his pickup down to our back door and we loaded the last big item, our bed.  Anni and I had been washing woodwork, cleaning cupboards and vacuuming for days and that night we skipped choir practice and finally finished cleaning at 9:30 p.m. We literally mopped and waxed our way out the back door, locked up, and left the home we’ve loved for 12 years.  I still had no idea what I was going to preach about on Pentecost. 

Taking a much needed break, Anni and I went to our meet ‘n eat at Mountain Meadows on Friday night.  Jaci and Toni were telling us about the Festival of the Holy Ghost that they’ve attended for the past several years in Hawkinsville and, perhaps because I was desperately looking for a miracle myself, the story completely captivated me.  Every year at Pentecost there’s a festival in the tiny town of Hawkinsville, down near Yreka.  It opens with a Mass at the Roman Catholic Church, after which a young girl is crowned as Festival Queen.  Then there’s a three-block parade, from one end of town to the other, which culminates with a pit beef barbecue dinner.  A committee has organized games for the kids and the adults play bingo and participate in a raffle for a hand made quilt and a crocheted tablecloth.  It all sounds like something Garrison Keillor would talk about from Lake Woebegone, doesn’t it?  The Hawkinsville festival is just one of many such festivals that go on all over Europe and Central America.  This particular festival has been going on for just over a hundred years, sharing in a tradition that goes back to the fourteen hundreds in Spain and Portugal.  So, here’s the story. 

Back in the middle ages, Portugal was worn by conflicts, and had suffered a great drought and famine that caused hunger and suffering for her people.  Ships had been sent to other lands for grain to help the people in the country, especially in the cities like Lisbon where many were starving. 

Close to Pentecost Sunday when all seemed lost, Queen Isabella requested that the people of Lisbon attend Mass and pray to God for help.  The people did and a miracle occurred, for suddenly there appeared three ships in the harbor, loaded with grain.  Isabella again asked that a Mass be offered in thanksgiving, that the grain be ground and baked into bread and distributed to the poor first, and that a great festival of celebration be held.

It is said that during the festival, Queen Isabella removed the crown from her head and placed it on the head of a little girl.  Since that time, Portuguese people all over the world have come together on or near Pentecost Sunday in thanksgiving for the intervention of the Holy Ghost and crowned a young girl, Queen of the Festival of the Holy Ghost to commemorate that time of suffering and relief, and God’s love and compassion for us all. 

Around the turn of the 20^th century a group of Portuguese men in the Hawkinsville area sent to Portugal for a silver crown and scepter so they could continue the tradition of a festival to honor the Holy Ghost, a custom that had helped them through difficult times in the old country.  The first Festival Queen was crowned in 1900 and that same sterling silver crown and scepter is used today, more than a century later!

As we share in our own “Festival of the Holy Ghost” on this Pentecost Sunday, we may not have a crown and scepter, but we do have red balloons, special music and a skit from our children, an opportunity to honor our graduates and thank our Christian Education teachers and Guardian Angels and, most importantly, it’s an opportunity to gather as one in the Spirit of our Christ and to celebrate our unity by participating in the sacrament of Holy Communion. 

Thanks be to God for the birth of the Church, and for all the wonderful ways the Holy Spirit has been working in our lives.  Amen, and amen.