Pentecost Poinsettia

There are lovely little twists on what we sometimes have come to expect that can make a celebration come alive or enable us to see it a bit differently and appreciate it all the more. That was Pentecost this year at the English Chapel in Butare.

This is my first year as “responsible” for the chapel, as the phrase is used here. So it was up to me to plan the Pentecost service. The elders insisted that I preach (which didn't make me unhappy.) I worked with the student who was to be the liturgist for the service, a second year student who is a bit unsure of her English, so this was a challenge for her to lead in English. We decided this would be a Pentecost experience for her, a kind of speaking in tongues. We had a laugh as we prepared the service.

Since we are an international community, we tried to include a number of songs from different languages about the Holy Spirit. Our international song book helped, since we have songs in French, Swahili, Kinyarwanda and English. We made use of those. Then the Kataria family (my colleague Dr. Faith and her husband and sons) were a “choir” from Tanzania, adding to the international flavor of the celebrations. We had worship participants from Canada, US, Japan, Tanzania, Germany, Congo and Rwanda, a fairly international cross-section.

Pentecost Poinsettia in worship

I had requested that everyone who was willing to, wear something red for the occasion and folks enthusiastically cooperated. We just had new cloths made for the communion table, so that was no problem, but, as is the case in many African worship spaces, the flowers are usually plastic, regardless of the fact that there are beautiful, fresh flowers blooming year round just outside the  chapel. I surveyed my yard for something to contribute to the communion table in the way of fresh flowers. I have bougainvillea, but it is more orange in color. My hibiscus is more pink than red, but as I moved to the back yard, I spied the poinsettia bush in bloom. The red was the perfect color. Now, I know that in the US, these are plants specifically cultivated for Christmas. I was informed that the same is true in Japan. But there they bloomed, ready and perfect in color for Pentecost. I couldn't resist the wonderful irony of Poinsettia for Pentecost. What fun! Then I justified it theologically. What better unity than to have the symbol of the incarnation (God with us) at the celebration of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (God in us). It seemed Trinitarian, or at least that is how I rationalized it, if, in fact, it needed rationalization. The simplest explanation is they were lovely red flowers to celebrate Pentecost. That is how the Rwandan members of my congregation received them, since they had no preconceived ideas that they were Christmas flowers. They brightened the communion table.

Congregation in red

So we celebrated with international celebrants singing in international languages in worship, dressed in red, and Pentecost poinsettia gracing the communion table. But most importantly, we experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit in the worship. That was the comment of many at the end of the service and was my experience as I preached. For that I praise God.