Pentecost Intergenerational Event: Embracing the Spirit in Ordinary Lives
Experience the Pentecost Intergenerational Event where participants are challenged to live by the Spirit from Easter into Ordinary Time, celebrating the Holy Spirit's gifts and fostering the Fruits of the Spirit in our lives, communities, and the world. Engage in a variety of activities that embody the essence of Pentecost and strengthen the spiritual bonds between individuals of all ages.
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PENTECOST INTERGENERATIONAL EVENT To be challenged to live by the Spirit throughout the rest of the Easter Season into Ordinary Time in our ordinary lives. To celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit in community with one another. To strengthen our ability to see the Fruits of the Holy Spirit come alive in our lives, in our community, and in the world.
INTRODUCING THE DAY What Is Pentecost? Ancient Israelites observed three major holidays: the feasts of the Tabernacles(Sukkot), Passover (Pesah), and Pentecost (Shavuot). All work stopped and people became pilgrims, setting out for Jerusalem, if possible. As the name implies, holidays were holy days. They had much to celebrate about what God had done! God led the people out of bondage in Egypt; God led the people across the desert into the Promised Land; God gave the people God s laws, showing them the best way to live; God caused the earth to bring forth bread. With so much to remember and celebrate, the pilgrims sang, danced, and gave thanks all the way to the holy city! Passover and Pentecost were actually two festivals in one, like bookends of the Spirit. At Passover God s people gave thanks for the first fruits of the harvest. But on Pentecost, the fiftieth day of Passover, they celebrated both the life-giving harvest and the life-giving Law, handed down to Moses on the mountain. So Jesus followers and many other Jews were in Jerusalem for Pentecost. Amazingly, the first Pentecost after Jesus resurrection was no ordinary festival. In a stunning move, God poured out God s Spirit on Jesus followers gathered in that room in Jerusalem, as recorded in Acts 2. That day even gentiles, or non-Jews, had a share in God s blessing. The church received the power needed to take the Gospel to everyone, no matter who they were. Christians celebrate Pentecost Sunday to this day. In fact, Pentecost Sunday concludes the Easter season and transitions to Ordinary Time. This celebration challenges us to live by the Spirit in our ordinary lives. The church teaches that on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God is fully revealed. This means that the reign of God, which was announced by Christ, has opened to those who believe in Christ. The coming of the Holy Spirit causes the world to enter the last days. During these end times, God s reign of justice has begun and is carried out through the church as we strive to help the reign come to completion. God s love is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we Christians can bear much fruit, including love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
PENTECOST INTERGENERATIONAL EVENT ACTIVITIES GATHERING GAME GATHERING PRAYER LUMINARIAS HOLY SPIRIT PRAYER CARDS WINDSOCKS FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT TREE PENTECOST BINGO
GATHERING GAME You will need a red paper cup, and a 15 piece of string. Thread the string thru the hole in the bottom of the cup. Have 2 people hold the ends of the string. The other members of the team will take turns blowing the cup from one end of the string to the other end and back again, switching off the blowers so no one passes out! Use the best of your holy breath to race your cups back and forth with the greatest possible speed. When the caller shouts out, Come Holy Spirit, come, the game begins.
GATHERING PRAYER GATHERING SONG - COME, O SPIRIT OF GOD OR THE SPIRIT IS A-MOVIN LEADER: Just because we cannot see the wind does not mean we do not know of its presence. Consider how we were able to move those cups. We could not see our breath, but they did indeed move. This is also true of the Holy Spirit. As we read in Galatians 5:22-23, the fruits of the Spirit include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are all things that we cannot see, but we truly know when they are present. Let us listen now to a message from John s Gospel. READER 1: Jesus answered, Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you, You must be born from above. The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. LEADER: What do you think it means when Jesus said you must be born of the Spirit? How do you see the Holy Spirit working in your lives? O God of wind and fire and earth and water, you breathe your Spirit into all living things. Breathe your Spirit into us, so we may be filled with your love. All: Amen. Leader: In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
LUMINARIAS Celebrate the Pentecost fire by making traditional Mexican decorations called luminarias. Luminarias, while lighting the way for others, remind us of the fire of Pentecost and the Spirit among us. DIRECTIONS From red paper gift bags, leaving the bottom half of the bag whole, cut long narrow flames in the top half to create windows of various sizes. Fill the bags with about 2 inches of sand, and place a tea light in the sand. When you finish with your luminaria, decorate your prayer space with them.
HOLY SPIRIT PRAYER CARDS Here you can create prayer cards to use during your personal prayer times. Directions: Print a copy of the Resource Sheet Wind and Fire Prayers, on the next slide and cut out the prayers. Glue them on to blank index cards. Using markers, stickers, glitter, glue, and crayons decorate your cards. Make as many prayer cards as you want, including a few to share with friends and families.
Wind Prayer O God, awake the wind, north and south. May your spirit breathe on us as wind upon a garden, and may our fragrance spread abroad. Fire Prayer O God, Refiner s Fire, we call on you. Answer us! In the furnace of your love, refine us like silver, and test us like gold. Make us to be your people. Amen. Based on Zechariah 13:9 . Amen. . Based on the Song of Solomon 4:16 Wind Prayer Come from the four winds, O Spirit of God, north, south, east, and west. We have been dead too long. Breathe on us, that we may stand and live. Amen. Fire Prayer Friends or foes, O God, we would give food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty. We would heap burning coals on their heads- the coals of your love. Amen. Based on Proverbs 25:21-22 Based on Ezekiel 37:1-14 Fire Prayer Purify us, O God, with one coal from your altar touch our lips, and, with them, our hearts. May we burn with your love And say, Here I am. Send me. Amen. Based on Isaiah 6:1-8 Wind Prayer Creator God, Breathe the breath of life into our nostrils Make us alive with your Spirit. Amen. Based on Genesis 2:7
WINDSOCKS Making windsocks is a fun and engaging activity to celebrate the wonder of the Holy Spirit. Directions: Cover the outside of the tubes by gluing construction paper, streamers, or ribbon into place. Use creative and bold designs. Glue streamers or ribbons to the insides of the tubes as well. Punch four evenly spaced holes along the top of each windsock. Cut 2-foot pieces of string, and tie them onto the holes at the top to display the windsocks. Write your names on the inside of the windsock.
FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT TREE Directions: Read Catechism of the Catholic Church #736 738, from the next slide, aloud. All participants should look over the text. Engage in an open discussion using the following questions, while two recorders capture the group s thoughts on newsprint: What does the Holy Spirit enable us to do? What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit? What does the Holy Spirit have to do with the church? How do you see the Spirit working in your life, in the life of the church, and ultimately in the world? Give concrete examples of the Holy Spirit working among you in your homes, in your community, and in the world. Take small branches and small slips of color paper. Use the slips of paper to write down the gifts of the Holy Spirit that have been given especially to you. Then crunch up the slips of paper, forming small buds, and glue them onto the small branches.
CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 736 By this power of the Spirit, God s children can bear much fruit. He who has grafted us onto the true vine will make us bear the fruit of the Spirit:... love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. We live by the Spirit ; the more we renounce ourselves, the more we walk by the Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to paradise, led back to the Kingdom of heaven, and adopted as children, given confidence to call God Father and to share in Christ s grace, called children of light and given a share in eternal glory. The Holy Spirit and the Church 737 The mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is brought to completion in the Church, which is the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. This joint mission henceforth brings Christ s faithful to share in his communion with the Father in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit prepares men and goes out to them with his grace, in order to draw them to Christ. The Spirit manifests the risen Lord to them, recalls his word to them and opens their minds to the understanding of his Death and Resurrection. He makes present the mystery of Christ, supremely in the Eucharist, in order to reconcile them, to bring them into communion with God, that they may bear much fruit. 738 Thus the Church s mission is not an addition to that of Christ and the Holy Spirit, but is its sacrament: in her whole being and in all her members, the Church is sent to announce, bear witness, make present, and spread the mystery of the communion of the Holy Trinity.
BINGO DIRECTIONS AND GAME CARD ARE ATTACHED TO THE EMAIL THAT THIS PP WAS ATTCHED TO!
CLOSING Gather in your prayer space, which is decorated with finished windsocks, luminarias, branches, and prayer cards. Display any newsprint from discussions. LEADER: Today we experienced the movement of the Holy Spirit among us. We discovered new and interesting things about one another, and we appreciate the diversity in our community. We learned how our spirituality is strengthened by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Please join me by repeating the actions in the following prayer: O God, we celebrate your Spirit today. (Raise your arms.) We celebrate the Spirit inside us (hug yourself) and among us! (Extend your arms.) We go into the whole world (form a circle with your arms), carried by the wind of the Spirit (blow, moving hands outward from your mouth) and shining with the fire of the Spirit (wiggle your fingers) as the whole people of God! (Do a group hug.) Pentecost song
