Early Harvest
Today is WhitSunday or Pentecost.
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you." - John 14:15-17
The name WhitSunday comes from the wearing of white robes by those who would be baptized on this day, and the name Pentecost comes form the Greek for Fifty Days, representing fifty days or seven weeks after Easter.
The Jewish tradition behind this festival day goes back to the first harvest of wheat, which occurred a week of weeks or seven weeks after the first fruits, which was the beginning of the barley harvest. And it is during this early harvest time that the Holy Spirit chose to descend on the disciples and followers of Jesus.
It makes sense, if you think about it, that the day would represent going to the harvest, since the power that the Holy Spirit gives us enables us to go into the world to spread the Good News of salvation through Christ.
But today, we don't set our personal calendars to the planting and harvest cycles, unless we are farmers, and so the significance of these dates becomes somewhat diminished. Those of us who reap the benefits of an abundance of crops, though, such as soup kitchens and food pantries that get donations from farms, appreciate the connection.
The gift of the Holy Spirit is like that, an abundant harvest, enough to feed all the world, but we have to be willing and able to go use the gift the way God intends, to help and love one another.
The world cannot receive the Holy Spirit directly, so we who share in it must go and share what we have been granted. The harvest needs to be delivered.
So, today, as we gather in Church to celebrate our great gift, recalling our Baptismal covenant, we need to remind ourselves that the work of harvesting the fruits is only beginning. We have a season of work to do for God, and it begins with love.
This is the season we have been created for, and now that it is here, we mustn't get lazy.
More to come...