Originally published in the May-June 2018 Evangelist.
By Children, Youth, and Family Minister Jean Hansen
In Godly Play, Pentecost is one of the three great mysteries of our liturgical calendar. The other two are Christmas and Easter. Many people walk right through these mysteries and don’t even realize what’s there. Therefore, we need time to draw close to these mysteries. What can we do to get ready for Pentecost?
Just as the Holy Spirit was given to the Apostles that day, the power of the Holy Spirit was given to each of us in our baptism. Honoring Pentecost in your household helps focus on the gift and the work of the Holy Spirit, which fills us at all times and in all places (not just at church).
To prepare for and practice Pentecost at home, use the symbols of Pentecost, based on the description from Acts: wind and fire. Make your own fire sticks to use on Pentecost and the time after Pentecost to help you remember the power of the Holy Spirit.
Making a Fire Stick
Materials Needed
- A sticks, such as a wooden dowel or a stick from outdoors
- Several long pieces of ribbon: red, gold, and orange
- A short piece of ribbon.
- Glue, hot-glue, or other method of fastening the ribbons to the stick.
How To Do It
- Gather your household: consider inviting friends and neighbors, too. Read scripture: Try the passages from Acts 2 or John 14 (see below).
- Make your fire sticks: Glue or fasten the long pieces of ribbon to one end of the stick. Then use the shorter piece of ribbon to wrap around the glued ends so that everything looks tidy.
- Take your fire sticks outside: Watch the wind bring them to life. Remember that like wind, we cannot see the Holy Spirit, but we constantly see and experience its movement and effects.
- Enjoy: Leave your fire sticks out for the season after Pentecost, which lasts until Advent.
Acts 2:1-4
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
John 14:15-20
‘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 for ever. 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.
I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
