COLLECT FOR THE DAY OF PENTECOST: WHITSUNDAY – YEAR A – RCL

Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  AMEN

OR THIS:

O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  AMEN

We have reached a major milestone in the course of our Christian year with the observance of The Day of Pentecost.  Since this day is also one the five special days for baptisms (BCP page 312), it was also known as Whitsunday, or White Sunday, in the Anglican and European Church reflecting the color of the Baptismal Robes.  Starting with Advent and continuing on through Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, and Easter, we have absorbed the history and the essence of our faith in Jesus Christ.  Now, we celebrate the gifts of the promised Holy Spirit with a sense of completion.  In doing so, we are conscious that as our Easter reflects the Jewish Passover, so does the Christian Pentecost correlate with the Jewish Pentecost that celebrates a principal harvest and the gift of the Law to Moses.  We therefore mark the day of the gift of the Law and the gift of the Spirit as the culminating harvest of our Easter journey.

The first Collect, which is new to our BCP, has its focus on the spreading of the Gospel throughout the world.  It connects with the same passage from Acts 2: 1-11 that has been appointed for years.  Many of us will hear the celebration of Pentecost in various tongues this Sunday!  The second Collect, dating to the Gregorian Sacramentary and the Sarum Missal, is the Collect that Cranmer chose to mark this special day.  There is a risk/reward balance inherent in the Petition Clause between the willingness to be guided by the Holy Spirit in exercising, “right judgment” and the pleading that we may enjoy the gift of rejoicing in his “holy comfort.”  Rejoice, and, remember, wear something red!

With the introduction of the RCL, we are given several choices for our readings on the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We start with the first hand accounts in either Numbers or in Acts.

The verses from Psalm 104 richly emphasize the power and love of God.  The beautiful words of Paul can follow describing the variety of spiritual gifts we can receive from the Spirit.  We conclude in John’s Gospel with Christ’s breathing the Spirit on the disciples, or saying in the other verses, “Out of the believers heart shall flow rivers of living water.

ACTS 2: 1-21 OR NUMBERS 11: 24-30 – The Gift of the Holy Spirit

PSALM 104: 25-35; 37b – God the Creator and Provider

1 CORINTHIANS 12: 3b-13 Spiritual Gifts - OR ACTS 2: 1-21

JOHN 20: 19-23 – Jesus Appears to the Disciples - OR JOHN 7: 37-39 – Rivers of Water