Celebrate Today- ceremonies and celebrations to make your days count

We celebrated Pentecost with the 50 red balloons I brought with me to church... Such a sweet celebration to bring this new tradition to our church family at Union.  While there's no symbol that can really reenact the way the disciples were amazed and astonished when the Spirit came upon them, this is a small way to invite us as a church to delight in God's presence  with us through the gift of the Holy Spirit...

Today is Pentecost, the day we celebrate God's gift to us of the Holy Spirit and we also celebrate the birthday of the church. I asked Jason and the kids to gather with me today to blow up some red balloons in celebration of the day and to read a few passages of Scripture to talk about the significance of this day; I was grateful that they all obliged and were good sports.  We read the following passages of Scripture: Genesis 1:1-4 Genesis 2:4-7 1 Kings 19:1-13 Psalm 133 Matthew 3:13-17 John 7:37-39  Acts 2:1-4  As we read these, I challenged us all to listen for the thread through these passages of what these tell us about the Holy Spirit.  These were some of the things that seemed to pop out: breath of life life giving water tongues of fire dove of peace still small voice  community inclusion  unity declaration of our belovedness  I then asked everyone a question that I heard recently from our neighbor Jaime. Appare...

Pentecost always reminds me of this favorite benediction  from our sweet church family in Knoxville at St. John's Lutheran.  "It is time to go and be His witnesses. And as we go we pray that the Lord would bless us and keep us, the Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us. May God give us grace never to sell ourselves short, grace to risk something big for something good, grace to realize that the world is much too small for anything but love, and much too dangerous for anything but truth. And now may God take our minds and think through them, and may God take our lips and speak through them, and may God take our hearts and set them on fire. In the name of Jesus Christ who goes with us always. Amen." red decorations at UPC today to celebrate  balloons from our kitchen today to mark the day... 

This morning, I got up and rifled through my box of streamers and balloons to find all the red ones I could. I taped them up on our kitchen doorpost to greet the day.  When Jason and Taylor came down the stairs, they asked, "What are these for?"  I reminded them that it was Pentecost (and also that it was Balloon Sunday that we celebrated back in Tennessee at several Episcopal churches that made the day extra festive with balloons all over the church.)   I saw this boy walking out of the Lutheran church down the street from us and I am pretty sure these balloons were for their Pentecost service. I loved following him down the block on this gray rainy morning.     In many liturgical settings, the color red is designated for Pentecost to signify the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The banners above are hung at our church every year on this day and are so vibrant.  passages we read in our small group today about the Holy Spirit:...

Pentecost Sunday is today. One of my favorite traditions for this day is in Knoxville at Church of the Ascension where they call this day "Balloon Sunday." This picture below is from the time we got to be there a few years ago to see the joyful decor.  Balloons represent birthdays, and Pentecost is the birthday of the church. The balloons also remind us of the gift of the Holy Spirit that we celebrate on Pentecost Sunday. 2012 balloons  our friend Jud at the Church of the Ascension with his boys in 2013 balloons we have tied to our door in Seattle to celebrate in our own way for Balloon Sunday  a timeless poem below that is definitely worth the read (or re-read if you know it!) in honor of Balloon Sunday:  BALLOONS BELONG IN CHURCH by Ann Weems I took to church one morning a happy four-year-old boy Holding a bright blue string to which was attached  his much loved orange balloon with pink stripes... ...