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May 26, 2026 –  Last year, Pentecost Sunday came in June, three days before the feast for St. Barnabas – “Apostle of Second Chances” – on the 11th. This year it came on May 24, eight days before we celebrate the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. (It’s normally seven days, but the 2026 “Visitation” comes on a Sunday, and so will be transferred to the following Monday.)

And speaking of delay, I couldn’t do this post sooner because I just got back from two weeks in Ireland last Thursday, May 21, and am still trying to get back up to speed. But back to Pentecost, from the Greek word for “50th day.” It always comes 50 days after Easter Sunday. (Or seven weeks and a day.) And it’s been around a long, long time. See Pentecost – Wikipedia:

Pentecost is the Greek name for the Feast of Weeks, a prominent feast in the calendar of ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai. This feast is still celebrated in Judaism as Shavuot. Later, in the Christian liturgical year, it became a feast commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ … as described in the Acts of the Apostles [verses 1-13 et seq.].

In other words, it’s been around for well over 2,000 years.

Other notes: It commemorates the day the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles and other followers of Jesus, who were in Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish Feast of Weeks. For a full account of the event see Acts of the Apostles 2. Or for a summary see Acts of the Apostles 2. (Bible Hub: “Verses 37–41 – Three Thousand Receive the Word,” and “Verses 42–47 – A Spirit-Filled Community Forms.” All of which is why this day is called the Birthday of the Church. (As I’ve cited, “from an historical point of view, Pentecost is the day on which the church was started.”)

Before the events of the first Pentecost … a few weeks after Jesus’ death and resurrection, there were followers of Jesus, but no movement that could be meaningfully called “the church.”  Thus, from an historical point of view, Pentecost is the day on which the church was started.  This is also true from a spiritual perspective, since the Spirit brings the church into existence and enlivens it.  Thus Pentecost is the church’s birthday.

(See Patheos.) But another name for the day is Tongue Sunday. For one thing there were the “tongues of fire” that appeared, as shown in the El Greco painting above. (Acts 2:3.) For another thing there was “speaking in tongues” – glossolalia – that became a big part of the first Pentecost Sunday. Acts 2:4: “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” That made some onlookers skeptical, even at the time. 

As noted in Acts 2:12 and 13, some who saw the event were amazed, but “others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine!’” But the Apostles weren’t babbling. (The “sound of people talking simultaneously,” or talking “rapidly and continuously in a foolish, excited, or incomprehensible way,” or uttering meaningless or foolish words or sounds.) Instead, they spoke in concrete known languages, and not just the prevailing Koine Greek and disciples’ own Aramaic. People from many different nations could understand them. Acts 2, verse 8-11:

“How is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs – in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”

(But see also 1st Corinthians 14:19, on the potential abuse of that gift. The Apostle Paul said while he was glad he could speak in tongues, in church “I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.”)

Another thing Pentecost Sunday does is mark the beginning of “Ordinary Time,” as it’s called in the Catholic Church, and shown in the chart below. That Ordinary Time takes up over half the church year, though in the Episcopal Church and other Protestant denominations, it goes by another name. That is, in the Anglican liturgy it’s called the Season after Pentecost and it begins on the Monday after Pentecost Sunday and goes on “through most of the summer and autumn.” So, this year the Season after Pentecost – or Ordinary Time – runs from Monday, May 25, through Sunday, November 29, the First Sunday of Advent.

So, looking ahead to a long Pentecost Season, here’s wishing a Happy Birthday, Church!

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The upper image was first courtesy of Pentecost Sunday Images – Image Results. But see also El Greco – Pentecost, 1610 at Prado Museum Madrid Spain. The caption – gleaned from past posts – is from Wikipedia, in turn gleaned from the following: “The Christian High Holy Day of Pentecost is celebrated on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) from Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1–31).”

The Book of Common Prayer reference: The “corporate-mystical” prayer is on page 339, the post-communion prayer for Holy Eucharist, Rite I.

Feast days are designated days on the liturgical (church) calendar “set aside to commemorate events, saints, or doctrines that are important in the life of the Church. These can range from Solemnities, which are the highest-ranking feast days like Easter and Christmas, to optional memorials that celebrate lesser-known saints.” Feast Days … the Church’s Calendar. See also Wikipedia’s Calendar of saints. “The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word ‘feast’ in this context does not mean ‘a large meal, typically a celebratory one,’ but instead ‘an annual religious celebration, a day dedicated to a particular saint.’”

Note also: Feast days falling on a Sunday get transferred to the next Monday. Precedence, Rules of – The Episcopal Church: “Sunday takes precedence over all other feasts and observances of the church year. When a feast of our Lord or other major feast appointed cannot be observed because it occurs on a Sunday, the feast is normally transferred to the first convenient open day in the following week.”

For this post I reviewed 2015’s On Pentecost – “Happy Birthday, Church,” Pentecost 2020 – “Learn what is pleasing to the Lord,” On Pink Floyd – and Pentecost Sunday, 2021, On Pentecost Sunday – 2024, and On Pentecost and St. Barnabas – 2025.

The lower image is courtesy of Liturgical year – Wikipedia. See also Ordinary Time – Wikipedia.

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