Flames and Flowers

Our church tradition recognizes some holidays that occur on different dates each year. Christmas, for instance, is always on the same date, but Easter and Pentecost "float" back and forth on the spring calendar depending on formulae that others know better than we. This year, we have two big holidays to celebrate on the same day: Pentecost and Mother's Day.

Pentecost, the day when Jesus' disciples first experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit, is often symbolized by flame. It was said that tongues of fire danced over their heads; a metaphor suggesting a sudden enthusiam for God. On pentecost, we wanted to hand out flames to everyone who attended, but the fire risk was overwhelming. Thus, we are handing out red carnations to symbolizing the fire of pentecost. (We are also inviting people to wear clothing with the color red.)

Mothers Day, while it isn't one of the traditional religious holidays, is never-the-less quite dear to people in our church traditions. We typically celebrate Mothers Day with flowers. In our congregation, (the United Congregational Church of Holyoke, MA), the tradition is to hand out flowers to all the mothers who attend worship on that day. Mothers Day is an occasion for all in attendance -- male and female -- to honor their mothers.

Worship with us on Sunday. Everyone gets a flower (unless we run out)!