There was a time when the great Feast of Pentecost had customs and traditions that were celebrated with as much enthusiasm and excitement as Christmas and Pascha. Times have changed and Whitsunday is just another Sunday as far as most people are concerned. While we love the old customs and encourage their revival whenever that is possible and appropriate, the point is not the customs themselves. Full homely divinity is not antiquarian, it is very much in the present. Indeed, that is the point. The customs (whether old or new) are a way of making connections. To some, a barefoot walk in the dew may seem rather far removed from the great event of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. However, to those who understand liturgy as part of life, there is a unique connection between this and other customs and what happens in the liturgy on Pentecost. Before the Gospel at the Eucharist, a verse of the Sequence Hymn prays:
| Heal our wounds, our strength renew; On our dryness pour thy dew; Wash the stains of guilt away: Bend the stubborn heart and will; Melt the frozen, warm the chill; Guide the steps that go astray. |
The homely custom of a barefoot walk anticipates this verse early in the morning, taking intentional steps in the God-given dew that cleanses and refreshes the earth in the same way that the water of Baptism cleanses and refreshes the sinful soul. Homely divinity, like the sacraments, recognizes the deep connections between tactile, earthy reality and the things of the Spirit. Homely divinity is richly incarnational. It finds God in places where most people do not even look and it celebrates God's revelation of himself in the most ordinary of things: Lady Julian's hazelnut, an inscription in chalk on a door frame, a pretzel, the dove-shaped blossom of columbine. God is not in these things in the way that God was incarnate, literally enfleshed, in Jesus Christ. But these things are signs that point us to God and make us aware of his presence and purpose for us in all things, visible and invisible, now and forever.
Jesus promised the disciples that he would send the Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth. This is much more than a promise of dogmatic guidance and it is no accident that so many of the old Pentecost customs and symbols involve nature. Doctrine alone, as important as it is, does not "melt the frozen [or] warm the chill." It is the daily encounter with God, revealed in the face of every creature and carried through in our continuing interaction with all of creation, that transforms lives. And that, of course, is the goal: our renewal as part of the renewal of all creation.
So, in this Whitsuntide and the season that follows, we welcome you to Full Homely Divinity, with the hope that the resources you find here will enrich your journey into the new creation and kingdom of God.
Resources for Whitsuntide and after:
Pentecost
Trinity Sunday
Benediction of the
Blessed Sacrament
Prayers for a Baccalaureate Service
The Church's Year: Pageant or Remembrance?
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Website updated on 3 July 2010
