"Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gifts my Father promised,
which you have heard me speak about.
For John baptized with water,
but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
Acts 1:4
In recognition of the gift of the Holy Spirit
our family is celebrating Pentecost.
To some it is known as Whitsunday and it is traditional
to serve white foods, thus we began our day with white
powdered sugar donuts and plenty of good wholesome white milk
to dunk them into.
On that first day of Pentecost a sound like a mighty wind
filled the home the apostles were in
and tongues of fire appeared and came to rest on them
and they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Celebrations of Pentecost are commonly developed around
themes of fire and wind, as was ours.
Our entree was flaming-hot chicken wings.
It was served with 'tongues of fire' veggie plate
and 'the nine fruits of the spirit' fruit salad.
The veggie plate was simply grape tomatoes,
baby carrots and red and yellow bell pepper strips
arranged to resemble flames.
Our fruit salad consisted of apples, pineapple, oranges, banana,
blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, red grapes and kiwi.
I decorated the fruit salad with miniature pinwheels
so as to encourage everyone to make 'a mighty wind.'
For dessert there was cake with the center candle representing Christ, our light.
It was surrounded by twelve smaller candles which represented the apostles
and the tongues of fire that came to rest upon them.
They are surrounded by 'nine fruits of the spirit.'
After the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit, during that first Pentecost,
they were able to speak in other tongues. They went to speak to the crowds of
people in Jerusalem and all were able to understand these Galileans.
Peter addressed the crowd, sharing the truth regarding Jesus being the Messiah
and, afterwards, baptized three thousand new believers.
It is considered the birth of the church.
We wished the church a 'happy birthday'
and with 'a mighty wind' Christian blew out the candles.
We dined on cake and ice cream as our joyous celebration
of the church's beginning came to an end.
I put him to work making part of his own birthday feast - he grilled brisket and made his most fabulous cole slaw. I contributed fresh salsa, corn-on-the-cob and an apple brown betty.
As the heat was about to melt the birthday boy, we moved inside for apple brown betty a la mode. And Bishop gave Dad some Pop Rocks because his "pop rocks", get it?
The boys had a blast sampling the pop rocks and chasing them with a bit of soda.
Bishop helped Dad assemble his birthday gift - a new grill.
