A Season of Proclamation

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There’s a rhythm to the Church Year, and it goes like this: preparation, fulfillment, proclamation; preparation, fulfillment, proclamation.

Look at the first half of the year. The first season, Advent, is a period of PREPARATION. We wait, we watch, we hear the promises of prophets that God will send a Savior. “Prepare the way of the Lord,” says Isaiah, and we prepare ourselves to receive those promises anew, reflecting on our own need for salvation and our hopes for a renewed life with God. When Christmas comes, we experience the FULFILLMENT of those promises: “For unto us a child is born” in the stable at Bethlehem. His name is Emmanuel, literally “God with us.” Then comes Epiphany, and we hear how Jesus was made known to all the people of the earth—an epiphany is something made known—and we enter a lengthy season of PROCLAMATION, announcing that Jesus is Emmanuel for the whole world, the one who fulfills the hopes and dreams of the entire human race.

When we come to the second half of the year, the rhythm repeats. In Lent we are have another season of PREPARATION, particularly in light of the cross. During these Forty Days we take on the kind of spiritual disciplines that increase our self-awareness as people who need forgiveness. Then Easter arrives and we celebrate in song, “He is risen, we are risen!” In these Great Fifty Days we receive anew the FULFILLMENT of what Jesus died and rose to give us: remission of our sins and a new, risen life with him.

And then comes Pentecost, the long green season we now enter together. Having prepared ourselves in Lent, having received and celebrated the way God has fulfilled his promises in Easter, we now come to a time of proclamation, a time of announcing and sharing Jesus and the salvation he offers with others.

That is what the first Pentecost was about. We hear in the Acts of the Apostles how the Holy Spirit came mightily upon the disciples that day. The same God they had always prayed to “out there” was suddenly inside them, filling them with fresh courage and power—but for what purpose? The purpose was proclamation. The apostles were filled with the Spirit in order to announce to the world that in Christ a forgiven and risen life is offered in abundance. As St. Peter proclaimed that day, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him.” (Acts 2:38-39) St. Peter’s proclamation was well received, with some three thousand souls coming to Christ that day.

How appropriate it is that our second Harvest outreach project falls at the beginning of Pentecost, this season of proclamation. What an opportunity we have to be the Church, to be a parish with Pentecostal purpose as we reach out to our community to share Christ with others.

Many have already helped in the Harvest effort: phoning our neighbors, inviting them to St. John’s on June 13, and praying for their needs. But the most important part of Harvest is still to come, and each of us has a part to play. Maybe you don’t think of yourself as Christ’s megaphone—like St. Peter on Pentecost, Jesus’ personal spokesperson— and yet you still can have a part in the Church’s proclamation of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Indeed, this is the calling of all baptized believers, “to bear witness to [Christ] wherever they may be; and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world.” (BCP 855)

So, here are some specific ways you can do that throughout this season of proclamation, how you might find your own Pentecostal purpose in this church throughout the summer months.

• Again, Harvest Sunday is June 13. We still need help from people willing to greet, able to help with the special lunch for our guests or to help with parking. Find a particular area that fits your gifts and get involved. As always, talk to Kristin Todora.
• At our first Harvest Sunday in 2008 we had sixty-some guests, and we should expect a good number this time around. Welcome them with great hospitality. Don’t be rankled if they sit in your spot! Be mindful of their needs and anticipate their questions: help them find the nursery or the newcomer’s guide for the Eucharist. Introduce yourself to them and visit after church. The way you welcome others is in itself a picture of the Gospel: “Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you.” (Romans 15:7)
• Pray! Nothing happens without prayer. No one receives the proclamation of the Gospel without the Holy Spirit moving the heart. You could pray that on Harvest Sunday, and the weeks following, that God would call specific people who need Christ to this specific place. You could pray that in this season of Pentecost, Fr. Corley and I would be particularly inspired in our preaching. You could pray that the Spirit would be among our congregation as we worship.
• Aside from the Harvest initiative, you yourself could invite someone to church—either on June 13 or on any Sunday throughout the summer months. In a survey conducted by Thom Rainer in 2002, 96% of unchurched individuals surveyed said they would be at least “somewhat likely to attend” church if they were invited by someone they knew. Can you find better odds than that?

Those are just a few suggestions. Maybe you have some ideas, or maybe the Holy Spirit has a better idea for you still. In any case, and in whatever way you choose, please join me in getting into the rhythm of the Church year this Pentecost, proclaiming the Good News of a forgiven and risen life in Christ. I know you will be blessed if you do.

Yours in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,