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The Meaning Of The Name
The name Pentecost comes from the Greek pentecoste meaning fifty. Pentecost comes fifty days after the Festival Of The Resurrection.

The Festival Of Pentecost
The historical event that led to the Festival of Pentecost is reported in the Acts Of The Apostles, chapter 2, which records the descent of the Holy Spirit on the church in Jerusalem. All of the gospels record Jesus' promise to send the Spirit to empower, strengthen and guide the believers. The Gospel of John differs from the Luke--Acts account, however, by merging the appearance of the resurrected Christ with the sending forth of the Holy Spirit. For John the relationship of the resurrected Christ and the Holy Spirit is more personal and direct. "When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit' " (John 20:22). The Church year follows the Lukan model, where Christ's resurrection, ascension and Pentecost are related yet separate. The bestowal of the Holy Spirit makes Pentecost one of the church's major festivals, together with Easter and Christmas. Without Pentecost and the gift of the Holy Spirit the church would never have been born. In the practice of the church, however, Pentecost doesn't even come close to being recognized by most Christians as a major happening, worthy of pulling out all the stops. The reason for this neglect is probably tied to the fact that the Holy Spirit has become a rather intangible concept rather than a living reality. This was certainly not the case in the early church; the name Holy Spirit occurs 92 times in the Bible, mainly in the New Testament. However, the book of Acts, which records the growth of the early church, contains forty references to the Holy Spirit, not even counting the times when the adjective Holy is dropped from the word Spirit. Often the Holy Spirit is spoken of by Acts as the "Spirit of Jesus." All of these references to God's Spirit speak eloquently of the awareness in the early church of the Spirit's guidance and empowerment. Pentecost has been called the birthday of the church, although some Christian thinkers would take exception to that statement. They prefer to push the birthday of the church back to the calling of the disciples or the confession that Jesus is the Christ or the appearance of Christ to the post--crucifixion assembled believers. Some congregations have linked Pentecost to confirmation, praying that the Holy Spirit would fill and empower those who are affirming their baptism. I would not recommend this practice because it detracts from the opportunity of lifting up the importance of the Holy Spirit for the life of the church.

The Season Of Pentecost

Pentecost is both a festival and a season. Prior to the unified lectionary in 1970, most Protestants celebrated Pentecost only as a festival. They counted the Sundays in the second half of the church year after Trinity. Trinity has been traditionally celebrated the Sunday after Pentecost. The Roman lectionary dubs the Sundays after Pentecost as Ordinary Time. I prefer to call the second half of the church year the Pentecost season, because the Pentecost event was so crucial for the life of the church. Nevertheless, the chapters will follow the designation of the Revised Common Lectionary by referring to the Sundays after Pentecost as Proper, followed by the number. The emphasis of this season is growth in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. The first half of the church calendar, Advent through Easter, celebrates the pivotal events in the life of Christ. The completing half of the church year draws out the meaning of the life, death and resurrection of Christ for the life of the believer and of the church.

Relationship Of The Christian Pentecost To The Jewish Pentecost
A link exists between the Jewish and Christian Pentecosts. The Hebrews had the Feast of Weeks (Exodus 34:22) seven weeks after Passover. This feast was originally an agricultural festival, which took on historical significance. The Jewish Pentecost came to celebrate the giving of the law through Moses, which formed them into a nation. Likewise, Pentecost celebrates the giving of the Holy Spirit, which constituted the church as we know it. Great crowds of faithful Jews would come to Jerusalem from all over the world to celebrate this festival. That explains how Peter could preach to such a great crowd of people after the descent of the Holy Spirit, as told in Acts 2.

Colors And Symbols Of Pentecost
The color of Pentecost is red, symbolic of the Holy Spirit alighting as tongues of flame on the assembled believers in Jerusalem. The flames remind us that the Spirit brings heat, light and passion into the Christian community. Green is the color of the Pentecost season, since this is the season of spiritual growth for those who are in Christ. Sometimes the flames are divided into seven separate flames to represent the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The dove is a key symbol of the Holy Spirit, which descended like a dove on Jesus at the time of his baptism.

Preaching In Pentecost
At this juncture the preacher has about half a year of proclamation. It might be helpful for the preacher to preview which books of the Bible are featured during this season of the church year.

Lesson 1. The majority of the texts feature the united monarchy period under King David; Samuel, David and Solomon are key figures. The pericopes come from 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 Kings and run from Pentecost 2 to Pentecost 24. The rest of the texts are taken mostly from the books of Wisdom literature - Proverbs, Job and Ruth.

Lesson 2. The Second Lessons derive from four books: 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, James and Hebrews.

Gospel. The Gospel features Mark, in semi--continuous readings, except for eight readings that come from John's gospel. Five of the fourth gospel's readings derive from John 6.