Year C: May 15, 2016

Day of Pentecost

First Reading: Genesis 11:1-9

The Newbies by Peter Catalanotto

(Written for ages 4-8)

Comment: Luke will soon be a big brother, but he does not like the fact that Mom and Dad are no longer just his. When he asks his parents to play with him or tell him stories and they can’t because of the baby, he dreams of getting new parents. The new parents do everything that Luke wants to do, but not quite the same way…something’s not quite right. Through his time with New Mom and New Dad, Luke realizes that his family might not be as bad as he thought and his parents are just what he needs. In the story of Babel, God sees the potential of who we are created to be and therefore God strikes down our attempts to pretend we know what we need better than God knows. In confusing the language at Babel, God saved creation from themselves. Sometimes God interjects through people, barriers and dreams to help us realize that God knows best and we should rely upon the grace of God’s love for us to help us live into all that we’ve been designed to be, as individuals or as members of a family.

Second Reading: Acts 2:1-21

The Secret Birthday Message by Eric Carle

(Written for ages 4-8)

Comment: At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down as a gift of love from God. When the Spirit filled the people, they began speaking in languages so that they could all understand one another. Everyone was confused, but Peter addressed the gathering and reminded them that God had scattered everyone for God’s purposes and is now re-gathering them so that they may all know of and tell of God’s love. Pentecost is considered the birthday of the church, and is a day of great celebration in the church. Pentecost ends the season of Easter and reminds us yet again of God’s love for us, and all of God’s creation. The blessings we receive from the Spirit are to be shared freely as they are freely given to us. In Carle’s book, on the eve of his birthday Tim receives a cryptic message which, if he follows, will lead him to his birthday gift. Tim follows the instructions (and so do the readers through pictures and differently shaped pages!) to find his way to his gift…something to love and care for.  Pentecost is a reminder to us, and to the original apostles, that we are loved and God is always present with us. The Spirit can’t be contained, as we see in the Pentecost story, and neither can God’s love – what we receive, we are to give as well. Likewise, Tim will now be sharing lots of love with his birthday gift! While the message itself or the medium of the message might be cryptic, the meaning is clear: God’s love is to be celebrated and shared. {Additionally, I commend to you this short video to help re-introduce you to the story of Pentecost: https://youtu.be/J5tr4pqWIo4.}

Gospel Reading:  John 14:8-17

The Seeds of Friendship by Michael Foreman

(Written for ages 6-9)

Comment: When Adam moves to a new city and a new home he misses the place he used to live. At first Adam has no friends and is also bothered by the stark cold, barren look of the new city life in contrast to the ecology of his old home. After a snowfall, Adam ventures out and begins making art in the snow where new friends join him. When it comes time for Adam to attend school he discovers a garden. With the help of his teacher who gives him seeds, and his friends who help him plant, Adams creates a rooftop garden and beautiful plant life all around his building, as well as on other patches of empty land in the neighborhood. Through the help of others and because of his love for nature, Adam and friends are able to do significantly more work together than they would have accomplished alone, creating a place of beauty and sanctuary for everyone to enjoy. In John 14, Philip struggles to understand that Jesus and God are the same person and demands for Jesus to show him “the Father.” In responding to Philip, Jesus reminds him that his words are God’s words, his actions are God’s actions, and whatever Philip does in Jesus’ name, God will be glorified. Jesus says, “Very truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these” (v. 12).

Thanks to Katie Barrett Todd, Union Presbyterian Seminary alumna, for writing the Lectionary Links for us for the past four weeks.

Lectionary Links: Sunday, May 15, 2016 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.