A Young Episcopalian Writes About Pentecost

My last year in Church School was in sixth grade, after which I “graduated,” first into youth choir and then as an acolyte. For that final year our teacher got the idea for us to put out a “newspaper” (the Jerusalem Daily News, obviously a take-off the Shiny Sheet) which might have been put out after the day of Pentecost, or Whitsunday. I got to write two of the articles and they looked like this:

New Sect Founded on Pentecost Day

At 3:00 this morning a sudden rush of “wind and fire” came upon the apostles of the late Jesus Christ and their guests. The early rumor was that the apostles and their guests were drunk, but Peter, one of the apostles, said that “they had been filled with the Holy Spirit.” The new sect was called the Christian Church, and its doctrine is the one set down by Jesus Christ.

Later in the day 3,000 people were baptized.

3,000 People Were Baptized

This afternoon 3,000 people were baptized, becoming members of the Christian Church.
These people vowed to follow the doctrine of the church, like to take communion and to give prayers.
After that the newly received people sold all their possessions and left the city.
Two years ago John the Baptist was doing a similar ceremony in the River Jordan before he was murdered.

Some comments;

I think they had me write this in two stages.
The business of the “late Jesus Christ” was a journalistic adaptation (I’d hate to see what our media would put down these days.)
The business of “3:00 this morning” showed how much I understood the watch system of the New Testament. If my parents taken a more proactive stance in my Christian education, I would have been informed that the Holy Spirit fell at 0900.
The idea that the people “sold all their possessions and left the city” is entirely sensible in a wealthy place like Palm Beach.
One of our Rector’s (Hunsdon Cary’s) favourite books to quote was Virginia Cary Hudson’s (relative?) O Ye Jigs and Juleps. In it she expresses the desire to visit the Holy Rollers, but her parents wouldn’t let her go. Little did I realize that I would end up in a Pentecostal church (and work for same for 13 1/2 years,) but God has a sense of humor.