As a guide to my daily prayer I use a resource which includes each day's readings from the daily lectionary, and a fourth reading from the Christian tradition. It's called For All the Saints, two volumes for each year. The first volume covers the first Sunday in Advent through the Day of Pentecost. The season of Pentecost (which we've just begun) fills the entire second volume!

This past Sunday, in the midst of our red clothing and red helium-filled balloons and red flowering plants, I heard from several who appreciated the teaching words I said about the Day of Pentecost. It's one of the three principal feast days of the church year, but compared to the other two -- Easter and Christmas -- few even know what Pentecost is about!

Now we are into the season of Pentecost, which lasts for half the year. It's the season of growth in the Holy Spirit. Its very length makes the point that that growth happens over the long haul; that our growth in the Holy Spirit is life-long.

There's some good teaching about Pentecost at a very helpful web site, so let me use this as an opportunity to recommend it to you!

Paste this onto your web browser line: http://www.explorefaith.org/

This web site introduces us to the riches of the Christian tradtion, and to contemporary writers who are recalling those riches. (Currently, there's an interview with Frederica Mathewes-Green. What? You haven't read any of her writings? You need to!)