#WearRedforPentecost

As church goers everywhere know, this year Pentecost falls on Memorial Day weekend. In many communities this means that attendance will be light for one of the principal feasts of the liturgical year as parishioners hit the road (cheap gas prices!) for a long-anticipated three day weekend.

While the cross always trumps the flag ("render unto Caesar" and all that), some congregations missed Jesus' memo on this.

Thus you end up with sanctuaries that look like this:

Instead of this:

But that's a separate axe to grind.

One of the fun traditions on Pentecost is encouraging people to wear red as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Yes, clergy will be vested and the altar will be dressed in red (one of only two Sundays in the church year when this happens, the other being Palm Sunday). But everyone is encouraged to wear red clothing or accessories to mark the celebratory nature of the day.

This year, I encourage you to take a picture of the red you're sporting (shirt, hat, shoes, pedicure, stole, socks, belt, whatever) and post it to social media with the hashtag #WearRedforPentecost.

Here are a few ideas to get the creative juices flowing (celebrities sold separately):

We may not break the internet but perhaps we'll dent it a little. And encourage others to learn a bit about this great day in the process. Come, Holy Spirit!

Bad Pentecost Clipart

In what has become a Clergy Confidential tradition (ie. I did it last year/we've always done it that way) it's time for this year's round-up of Bad Pentecost Clipart.

This began innocently enough as I was scouring the internet for a Pentecost icon for our parish newsletter. But then I discovered that this feast day offers the mother lode of horrendous images. Forget the 'eye of the beholder' -- there's some ugly stuff out there. When you combine tongues of fire, wind, a variety of languages, and a dove, I guess this isn't altogether surprising. But yowza!

In any case, my Pentecost gift (May 24th this year) to you includes a few of my "favorites" from the online horror I encountered. "Enjoy."

The Holy Spirit and how it would look if it descended upon Mr. Bill.

The "Power of Pentecost" trapped in a flaming snow globe?

Either the disciples need to turn that frown upside down or the fu manchu had really caught on.

The perfect Pentecost meal: dove flambé. 

 "Oil Refineries for Jesus."

Can you say "Ad for Lasix surgery?"

"Again?" What, does Pentecost bore you? And why is that flaming bird twerking?

Jerry Garcia meets liturgical dance.

Pentecost is so amazing that the guy on the right did a face palm.

Who doesn't enjoy some grilled pigeon as a special coffee hour treat?

May Day! May Day! We're being dive bombed by a flaming bird!

If this scarecrow looking thing only had a brain.