The Day of Pentecost

This Sunday we will celebrate Pentecost with an old fashioned pig pickin' after church services. I don't think this is traditional anywhere but in our small enclave in South Carolina. It certainly would not have been something the folks in Jerusalem would have been doing on that first Pentecost.

Acts 2:1-21When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’ But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: “In the last days it will be, God declares,that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,   and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,and your young men shall see visions,   and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women,   in those days I will pour out my Spirit;     and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above   and signs on the earth below,     blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness   and the moon to blood,     before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

From Christianity.com we learn that Pentecost was the Greek name for the Jewish Feast of the First Harvest, and the harvest of the first converts following Peter's sermon on Pentecost makes this day doubly special.

"There are three things you need to know about Pentecost that will help you understand Acts 2.
1. Pentecost was a pilgrim festival.
That meant that according to Jewish Law, all the adult Jewish men would come from wherever they were living to Jerusalem and personally be in attendance during this celebration.
2. Pentecost was a holiday.
No servile work was to be done. School was out. The shops were closed. It was party time.
3. There were certain celebrations and sacrifices and offerings which were prescribed in the Law for the day of Pentecost.
On Pentecost, the High Priest was to take two loaves of freshly baked wheat bread and offer them before the Lord. The wheat bread was made from the newly harvested wheat.
In short, Pentecost in the time of the Apostles was a great and grand harvest celebration. The streets of Jerusalem were clogged with thousands of pilgrims who had come from every point of the compass to celebrate the goodness of God and the bringing in of the wheat harvest."

So instead of a pig pickin', we should be offering two loaves of freshly baked bread. I think I will do that and see what my priest has to say.