The Long Green Season

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.          Acts 2:1-4

The event of Pentecost began a new thing. Pentecost empowered the people to be the church! We are now in the season of Pentecost marked by tongues of fire. This was an event that Jesus foretold the disciples,

 15 “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever —  the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 

 25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.                                                                                          John 14:15-17, 25-27

However, when Jesus promised the coming of the Holy Spirit, it is doubtful that the Disciples envisioned what was to transpire in the coming days—not the resting of flames on their heads, or the burning fire in their hearts!

Jesus told the disciples that he had to leave them so that they could become what they were always meant to be, His “hands and feet” in the world. The “resting of fire” only lasted for some minutes, but the actions that the Disciples, now Apostles, were to take would last for the rest of their lives. 
We are now in the liturgical season of Pentecost—the “Long Green Season,” as it is referred to, or “Ordinary Time.” Green reflects creation itself, the bristling, burgeoning season of new life, and the term “Ordinary Time” reminds us that the presence of God—the indwelling of the Holy Spirit—is a common, usual, constant, regular, ORDINARY reality in the life of the believer.

The Long Green Season is reflected by the green paraments in the Church—the altar, lectern, pulpit, and banners, constant during the 25 weeks of Pentecost. The lectionary—the cycle of scripture readings, focuses on the role of the Holy Spirit and the spiritual development of the person and of the church. This is a long and exciting potential-laden season of Good News, hope and change.

So many good and exciting ventures have been undertaken only to fizzle out and quietly die on the vine. This is not because they have been proven wrong, but because they take too long. Herein lies the sad irony of the season of Pentecost. Its very length, intended to be thorough and expansive, in effect can become a prolonged drone, sapping energy and dulling enthusiasm. That effect couldn’t be further from the image we received from the Lord of fire and excitement.

God has called us to live in each moment, totally, absolutely, unwavering and hyper-focused. If we could do that, the world would be a different place; because we can’t, the Father sent the Holy Spirit to help us. If living in the moment is exhausting and mind-dulling when we are embroiled in a long-term excursion, it is because we are not allowing the Holy Spirit to be present in each moment.

The Long Green Season is our seasonal practice and proving ground. It is a season starring the Holy Spirit. A season of listening to and speaking with God while consciously acknowledging and depending upon the Holy Spirit to make that happen. It is a moment by moment life, praying before speaking, listening while thinking, and asking after deciding.

Jesus left us the Holy Spirit so that we could become what we were always meant to be, a church of the Holy Spirit. The Long Green Season is not simply a liturgical period of time, it is all time, moment by moment.

Living in the moment,
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Fr. Bill+
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