It’s Friday…
It’s Friday…
As I began my sermon last Sunday… on Whitsunday… Pentecost… I mentioned that I couldn’t remember why it was called that. It was brought to mind … as I was reading a devotion from Luther in the devotional “Day By Day We Magnify Thee”— a good devotional, by the way, that has pieces of his sermons and commentaries… and other writings…
I was at Beacon Hill with Lee Meyer. I had chosen that devotion because it was the Saturday before, and I wanted to just give Lee a sense of the flow of the church calendar…
But I could not remember then, why Whitsunday was called this…
And I feel dumb… because a little observation… a little word archeology… parsing…
What color do we have … RED… wait… but….
Yeah, so…
Anyway…
Pentecost is called Whitsunday (or “White Sunday”) because it was historically one of the primary days for baptisms in the early Christian church. Newly baptized converts would wear special, clean white robes to symbolize their spiritual purity and new life in Christ.
The name is a contraction of “White Sunday,” derived from the Old English term.
How did we get to having red paraments then?
I am not sure… but that symbolizes the fire above the Apostles heads that morning of…
The morning that the New Testament Church was birthed! The first day of the Last Days. The beginning of the end.
The end of time started. And as a professor at the seminary said, nothing of importance happened after.
It was like D-day. The war was over even if there were still shooting going on.
Yes, so it has been rescue of prisoners and clean-up ever since.
But the victory has been won—there is no doubt about it. The enemy is in retreat, and denial… taking as many down as he can… before the end. All the while trying to convince as many as he can that there is still a chance he could win…
Nope. God said from His throne upon the cross; IT IS FINISHED!
Then 3 days later He went to the prisoners in hell to proclaim this victory. Then He showed Himself to the world…
Then He went up and filled the universe. To be with us always. Him.
He is given to us by the Given Holy Spirit.
How is that again? Beats me. Heavenly physics again.
Because then… He gave the Holy Spirit… to be poured out on Whitsunday!
And we have received Him… in Water and by Word.
We have stepped into a mighty river that flows from His side… moving… flowing… washing… us all the way home.
By baptism we step into life ever-flowing…ever giving….
Him, the Holy Spirit of Christ… who will take us to the Father, together with Him…
Kinda like that… but… I barley know how to say it…
So yes, even though this is Friday, thank God that Trinity Sunday is only 2 days…
Where we confess the Athanasian Creed… another true symbol of our faith. This too is most certainly true!
This coming Sunday – Feast of the Holy Trinity – May 31st 2026
Old Testament – Ezekiel 18:30-32
Epistle – Romans 11:33-36
Gospel – John 3:1-15
Sermon – CALLED BY GOD – Based on the Gospel reading
Prayer: For a lasting peace that would be established and would remain between the people of Israel and Gaza as well as for the People of Russia and the Ukraine. Between the US and Iran. For our congregation that it would please our Lord that we would increase in numbers and there remain in this place a congregation that calls upon Him rightly, practicing the faith according to the Scriptures. For those who are being persecuted and murdered because they call upon the name of Jesus—especially in Africa. For the end of violence in our cites and that our schools and congregations would be protected from those who wish them harm. For our families that parents would courageously discipline their children and raise them in the fear of the Lord, teaching them about salvation in Jesus alone. Amen.
