“If you want to find God, just let God know about it.”
On Sunday, June 8th—some Christians are going to celebrate Pentecost. Online, I found very interesting explanations of what this holiday means in the article written by Reverend Mark D. Roberts. The essence is that the believers commemorate the coming of the Holy Spirit on the earthly followers of Jesus to his followers, who came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish holiday Shavuot. So, from the historical point of view, the Pentecost is the Christian Church’s birthday.
The holiday was celebrated for at least 1,000 years since the first temple was built by King Solomon at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion. The word “Pentecost”, meaning fifty, and is the Greek name for the “Feast of Weeks”. It is in conjunction to the Torah’s celebration of Shavuot, which takes place fifty days after the Passover holiday. It was a perfect backdrop for Jesus’ revelation and the birth of a new religion.
In this story, I see a direct correlation between what happened on Mount Sinai when the Torah was given and between what happened many hundreds of years later in Jerusalem. During those years, Judaism went through many transformations. Though the text in the Torah did not change—the interpretations did. During those years, many groups and sects believed that their way is the right way. In this sense, Jesus’ teachings were probably not much different. But, he was a natural healer and emphasized faith as critical to healing — both the faith of the one being healed as well as the faith of those around him or her. His healing attracted many followers and by using his unique abilities, he was able to bring his message to the impoverished masses. But as we’ve seen, future history created many interpretations of the meaning of his message.
Despite the disagreements, there is one element that unifies all of the beliefs. Regardless of what the belief or tradition is, everyone enjoys sharing a good meal, which ends wonderfully with dessert. So, what can be better than Divine Mercy Cheesecake? It does not matter what your beliefs are—Christian, or Jewish—sharing a good cheesecake will easily erase all the differences.
If you do not have time to make your own, I highly recommend getting your cheesecake at Zanze’s bakery. They make the best cheesecake in San Francisco. During our “June Cheesecake Special”, you can get one FOR FREE.
Read below to learn how.
If you want to have your cake and eat it, just give this card to get it.
(click flyer for details)*
*Limit one cheesecake per family for successful referrals
P.S.
In the article I mentioned at the beginning of this newsletter, I learned that “Churches that employ liturgical colors generally use red on Pentecost as a symbol of power and fire of the spirit”. What can more be beautiful than red tulips to decorate the festive event? I’ve photographed these beauties on our trip to Amsterdam last April 2007.
Happy Pentecost!
DO NOT KEEP ME AS A SECRET.
SMILE AND PLEASE SHARE IT WITH A FRIEND
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