May 2008 Chugiak Crier Newsletter
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Worship Committee News
Watch for Changes!
Watch the Sunday Bulletin… We will be combining to one service for the summer starting Memorial Weekend (May 25) until Labor Day Weekend (August 30). The time will be announced the first week of May.
Pentecost is 11 May!
The worship committee asks everyone to wear red on Pentecost Sunday (May 11). As a symbol for fire, passion, energy, vitality, spirit and wind, let’s show God our best. Don’t forget to bring a friend or invite a neighbor to church.
Pentecost means Fiftieth day—as in the 50th day after Easter. It celebrates the hope evoked by the knowledge that God and the Holy Spirit is at work among His people. Celebrate the newness, re-creation, renewal of purpose, mission and calling as God’s people. See you there!!
A Little History from the Worship Committee…
The red paraments that will be on the altar for Pentecost were made by Jennifer Nelson and dedicated to the people of the United Methodist Church of Chugiak to enhance the worship experience.
Symbols appropriate to Pentecost are those indicating the appearance of God and His Holy Spirit. Chief among these is the descending dove as on the lectern cloth. Red, the liturgical color used for this season symbolizes the blood of Christ and his martyrs.
The Christian Festival of Pentecost is based on the incident recounted in Acts chapter 2 when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples gathered in a house at Jerusalem seven weeks after Easter. The appearance was made known by a sound “like the rush of a mighty wind” and by a light in the form of tongues “as of fire, distributed and resting on each of them.” (Acts 2:1-3). Seven tongues of flame on the pulpit cloth symbolize the seven gifts of the spirit as listed in Isaiah 11:2 – wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, holy fear of the Lord, and piety. The Jewish Pentecost which the disciples were celebrating at the time was the Feast of Weeks, a thanksgiving for the first fruits of the wheat harvest (Exodus 34:22). Wheat, on the altar cloth, is a familiar ingredient of our communion bread and stands for Jesus who said, “I am the bread of Life” (John 6:35), and “The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (John 6:33)
The cross is a symbol of Christ because of his sacrifice on it. It stands for salvation, redemption and atonement. The Latin cross (four arms with the lower one twice as long) is the traditional form used for the Crucifixion. This Latin cross with a circle around the crossing is called the Celtic cross.