The church calendar moves from the Ascension of our Lord (on 5th May) to Pentecost on 15th May and then on to Trinity Sunday. The Anglican churches have a combined service at Christ the Worker at 8pm on Ascension Day and a joint service at 11am on the 15th to celebrate Pentecost. There was an article on the significance of Ascension last month.
Before his death and after his resurrection, Jesus had told his disciples that God would send a ‘comforter’ to be with them always when he was no longer physically present on earth. We identify the comforter (sometimes referred to as the ‘advocate’) as the Holy Spirit. Pentecost, the name referring to ‘50 days’ after Easter, is often thought of as the Church’s ‘birth-day’ as it was on that day that the disciples collectively became aware of being filled the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Sunday after Pentecost is celebrated as Trinity Sunday, when we are reminded of the deep mystery of our ‘Triune’ God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit: three persons, but one God. We’ll explore this further in the June issue.
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