Pentecost, which we celebrated last Sunday, is one of the three principal feast days in our church.  It is often described as the birthday of the Church, and at a lot of churches, including our own, the Feast of Pentecost does look like a big birthday party.  Banners, bright red vestments, people in colorful clothing, bright red balloons, and maybe even cake at coffee hour!

The story of Pentecost is quite dramatic, and is found in Acts.  Peter and the other disciples are no longer hiding behind locked doors; they are preaching the good news of Jesus Christ at the Temple.  Because it was the Feast of Pentecost, a Jewish holiday which fell at the end of the spring harvest, and which commemorated the giving of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai, the Temple was crowded with observant Jews from all over the known world.  Many nationalities would have been represented, many languages spoken.  As Peter was preaching, a violent wind blew in, and it was as if tongues of fire were resting on the heads of everyone there; but that wasn't the miracle.  The miracle was that suddenly it was as if the disciples were speaking in the language of each person there; everyone could understand what the disciples were telling them about Jesus. 

Acts tells us that some people discounted this miracle, accusing the disciples of being drunk on new wine.  Peter has a rather funny line, telling his detractors, "By no means are we drunk!  It's only nine in the morning!"  Many of the people listening believed and decided to follow Jesus.  Three thousand people became followers of Jesus Christ that day.  That's why we think of Pentecost as the birthday of the Church.  After that day, many people began to think of themselves as Followers of the Way, of Jesus, and then later as Christians. 

That's only part of Pentecost, though.  Luke, the writer of Acts, links the gift of the Holy Spirit with the events of that first Pentecost.  That wind and fire were signs of the arrival of the Spirit, and it was through the power of the Spirit that for one brief moment at least, everyone could hear  and understand the good news of Jesus Christ.  In John's gospel, it happens a bit differently; the risen Christ appears to the disciples and breathes the Spirit on them.  It is an echo of God's breathing life into the humans God had created. 

The thing is, Pentecost is not simply a commemoration of an event that happened once, an important moment in church history.  And it is not just a birthday party for the church.  Pentecost happens all the time.  Easter is a way of life, a daily claiming of the power of love over death, and living into the reality of resurrection.  Pentecost is also a way of life, an understanding that the Holy Spirit works in our lives and in our world all the time. 

The feast day for the Book of Common Prayer can be on any weekday following Pentecost, so it might fall in either May or June.  The first Book of Common Prayer came into use on the Feast of Pentecost, June 9, 1549.  It was approved for use by King Edward VI, who assumed the throne after his father, Henry VIII, died.  This first prayer book was revised and edited several times, and it has taken different forms in various parts of the Anglican Communion, but all of our prayer books descended from that 1549 Book of Common Prayer.

The Book of Common Prayer was prepared by a committee of bishops and priests, but it was primarily the work of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury.  The Book of Common Prayer drew from the Latin service books in use at Salisbury Cathedral, the so-called "Sarum Mass," as well as Greek liturgies, vernacular German language liturgies prepared by Martin Luther, and other sources.  The Psalter and other Bible passages came from the Great Bible, approved for use by Henry VIII in 1539.

The Book of Common Prayer simplified the complicated medieval liturgies and made the prayer book accessible in the language of the people for use by both laypeople and clergy.  It contained beautiful translations, lovely prayers, and paraphrases of old Latin forms.  Cranmer in particular hoped that the prayer book could be the primary source of personal and community spirituality.  The Book of Common Prayer is intended to take a person through the day, with prayers or liturgies from waking to bedtime, and through one's life, with sacraments that run from cradle to grave.  There are prayers for nearly every imaginable situation; historical documents, and an outline of faith; tables for finding holy days; prayers for individual worship as well as corporate worship; suggested Bible readings for every day, in an orderly, two year cycle.

This year we will celebrate our hundredth anniversary as a parish!  The next time you are in our sanctuary, check out our beautiful red banner with the sheep and our name.  That banner was created as part of the celebration of our 75th anniversary in 1988.  Church of the Good Shepherd was founded by folks from Reading who attended church in Wakefield but who longed for a church in their own community that would serve Reading and North Reading.  Church of the Good Shepherd originally met in the Oddfellows Building (an appropriate choice for an Episcopal Church, since the Oddfellows was a charitable organization that began in England).  Parishioners reached out in faith and with generosity, and raised the money necessary to buy a parcel of land on the corner of Woburn and Chute Streets and to build what is now our sanctuary.  They were able to consecrate our church building in 1924.

Do you have memories of our church and what it was like in decades past?  Do you have old pictures of the church or parishioners?  We would love to share those in the E-News and as part of our celebration this year of 100 years of Church of the Good Shepherd.

We truly hope that every member of our parish will participate in some way in the first capital campaign at our parish in over sixty years.  Together, we can address long-deferred maintenance and make improvements to our building that will make us more energy-efficient, and that will ensure the beauty and soundness of our building for years to come.  Of course, not everyone will be able to give equally, but we hope that everyone will give generously, even sacrificially.  Over the past few weeks, the rector and senior warden have been visiting vestry members and other parish leaders.  Soon after those visits are completed, other parishioners will be setting up visits to talk with parishioners in their homes, answering questions and inviting pledges.  Our hope is that every family or individual will be offered a visit, and that parishioners will be open to receiving a fellow parishioner as a visitor.  We hope that we can reach our goal by early summer, and that we will be able to undertake some projects over the summer.  Watch your mail for more detailed information about the capital campaign. 

Six of our young people have been preparing for confirmation.  They will be confirmed on June 1, at 10:30 a.m. at the Cathedral.  All are invited to attend.  We will celebrate our confirmands as part of our 10 o'clock Eucharist on June 2.  The young people who will be confirmed on June 1 are:  Dan Coveney, John Fitzgerald, Sarah Ines, Greg Landry, Holly Manzelli, and Rachel Manzelli.  Please hold them in your prayers as they prepare for this important milestone.  

Chuck and Ginny Barthel, Dorothy Brown, Nancy Campara, Christine Camper, George Chace, Geri Chagnon, Betty Fraser, Gloria Graves, Bishop Gayle Harris, Bernice Herrick, Allan Johnson, Deborah Katt-Lloyd, Lisa Kimball, Mary Anna Krause, Tony Lopes, Carole Lutton, Maureen Manzelli, Jim McCallum, Lynn McDonald, Rheta C. McKinley, Sara O'Brien, Rhonda O'Keefe, Eleanor Schott, Bishop Thomas Shaw, Kevin Smith, Ralph Ventola, Stephen Wagner and Ashley Westerman.