I am a Baptist minister but am currently serving as interim pastor of First Christian Church, a Disciples of Christ congregation, in Birmingham, Alabama. The transition to a Disciples church has been an easy one for me. Baptists and Disciples are very similar in theology and practice, but one major difference is that the Disciples observe communion every Sunday. It is led each week by church elders and is a beautiful portrait of laity leading in this most important element of worship in a Disciples church.
I am loving this interim pastor role and enjoying the opportunity to lead a church through the calendar year. For the most part, I am preaching the lectionary texts and working with the minister of music to design worship. In my past ministry positions, I had planned and helped with Lent, Holy Week, and Easter services, but now that Pentecost is quickly coming, I realized that this is my first time planning and leading a Pentecost service. I want to do this well. What to do? What to do?
A few years back, Michael Douglas starred in the movie The American President. As president, Douglas made several attempts to buy flowers for his love interest, played by Annette Bening. Finally, in the last scene of the movie, she is carrying a bouquet of roses. When asked where he got the flowers, the president responded, “It seems I have a rose garden.” That is how I feel about Pentecost. It seems that I have friends who can help me.
Last week I emailed five of my women minister friends to ask for help with Pentecost planning: Amy Jacks Dean, Pam Durso, Karen Massey, Julie Pennington-Russell, and Mary Bea Sullivan. These are friends and colleagues whom I love and respect. Surely, they could help. I was not disappointed.
I once preached on Pentecost Sunday for at Park Road Baptist in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Amy is co-pastor. I knew she loved this Sunday. In her reply email to me, she wrote, “We always set the communion table ablaze—almost literally. We cover it with a red cloth and have tons and tons of red candles burning—tapers, fat candles, and tea candles—all shapes and sizes and heights. All red. It is gloriously beautiful. On our walkway that leads from the parking lot to the sanctuary, we put streamers mounted on boards of yellow, orange, and red tulle so that as you proceed down the walkway it feels as if you are walking through the flames.”
Karen, my worship professor at McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia, suggested: “Have persons who speak different languages read the Pentecost passage in Acts 2. I have had the text read in English, French, German, Greek, and Spanish. Have each person alternate reading a couple of passages. Then when you get to verses 17-18, have them all read those verses at the same time. It gives the flavor of all the many languages that were heard on that first Pentecost.”
My friend, Mary Bea, noted that in her Episcopal tradition, they often use a Taize chant, Veni, Sancti, Spiritus. I received all this and other advice from women whom I love and respect. As women, we are blessed with the resource that is our friends and colleagues. I encourage you to reach out for help but also to be a resource for each other. “It seems that I have friends who can help.” What a gift!
Jane Hull is interim pastor of First Christian Church, Birmingham, Alabama.