Words From The Warden
Memorial Day and Pentecost
Memorial Day and Pentecost coincide every three or four years, and their overlap feels especially meaningful. Both invite us to pause, reflect, and remember something sacred.
Observed on the fourth Monday of May, Memorial Day is often seen as the unofficial beginning of summer, marked by picnics and parades. Yet its deeper purpose is to honor the members of the armed services who gave their lives in service to our nation.
It is sometimes confused with Veterans Day, which recognizes all who have served. Memorial Day, by contrast, is set aside to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Pentecost is a day to honor and remember the birth of God’s new church in the world—a church established through the life and teachings of Jesus.
Pastor Julia offered a beautiful and powerful sermon on Pentecost: God sends his Spirit to us in personal, healing ways, and in bold, outward-moving ways that call us to live and love as Jesus.
I have always felt some uncertainty about the moment when Jesus breathed on his disciples and they received the Holy Spirit. My question comes from the belief that the Holy Spirit is part of God, and that we are made in God’s image. When God breathed life into humanity, it seems to me that his Spirit was already present within us.
Even so, that does not diminish what John’s lesson reveals. God first entrusted the Holy Spirit to the Israelites and the Jews, but in this moment the gift is opened more fully. Through Christ, the Holy Spirit is now given to everyone.
In that sense, both Pentecost and Memorial Day call us to honor a spirit moving within us—a spirit that speaks many languages and reaches every heart.
It is not a spirit fixed only on what has been. It is also the spirit of what comes next: a call to ask how we can help make life better for our brothers and sisters.
It is the spirit of God’s grace, and of the beautiful experiment in government that invites us to live with courage, service, and hope.
Peace,
Henry Zaborniak, Senior Warden