A Google AI Overview suggests that people are tired of “survival mode”, “inflation”, and “modern digital overload”. The Overview also mentioned “social and emotional fatigue” and “everyday inconveniences”. You might list other things. Jesus invites and thereby enables you, who labor and are heavy laden, to come to Him for rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28-29). The Son of God in human flesh, Jesus lived the perfect life that all human beings, corrupted by original sin, cannot live, and Jesus died on the cross for everyone’s failures to live that life. By the Holy Spirit working through God’s Word and Sacraments–Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, and the Holy Supper–the Father forgives those who are sorry for their sins and trust Him to forgive them for the sake of the Son, crucified and resurrected. So He gives rest. Those so forgiven at least try to keep God’s commandments but live each day in His forgiveness of sins. Ultimately, those so forgiven have the rest of eternal life.

The Divinely-inspired St. Matthew’s account of Jesus’s inviting you to Him for rest is just one of the accounts that we at Pilgrim Lutheran Church will hear this Church Year in what is usually regarded as the season after Pentecost. What follows overviews the season, its festivals and “ordinary” Sundays, their colors, and how you are welcome to be a part of them.

The Old Testament festival of Pentecost, fifty days after Passover (Leviticus 23:15-21) becomes the New Testament festival of Pentecost, fifty days after The Resurrection of Our Lord (Acts 2:1-41). May 24 this year, Pentecost in a sense bridges the two halves of the Church Year, technically the last day of the Easter Season but also giving its name to the season that follows. In the appointed Gospel Reading for Pentecost this year (John 7:37-39), we hear Jesus speak of His giving as water the Holy Spirit to those thirsty believers who come to and drink of Him.

Water and the Holy Spirit are also part of the appointed Gospel Reading for the First Sunday after Pentecost, May 31 this year, called Trinity Sunday, which celebrates the richness of the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—three Persons of one Divine substance (Matthew 28:16-20). Within the Trinity, the Father begets the Son, the Son is begotten, and the Holy Spirit proceeds at least from the Father. Outside the Trinity, God’s works generally can be ascribed to any of the three Persons, although only the Son was sent by the Father to take on human flesh and so die and rise in order to save us from our sins by grace through faith that the Holy Spirit creates.

For the rest of the Sundays after Pentecost, the dates and Gospel Readings (according to Lutheran Service Book‘s 3-year Series A) are listed below. In this particular Church Year, you may note that three Sundays after Pentecost are replaced with other observances.

  • Second Sunday (06/07): Jesus calls Matthew to follow Him (Matthew 9:9-13)
  • Third Sunday (06/14):Jesus sends workers into the harvest (Matthew 9:35-10:20)
  • Fourth Sunday (06/21): Jesus tells His apostles to expect persecution (Matthew 10:5a, 21-33)
  • Fifth Sunday (06/28): faith in Jesus divides people (Matthew 10:34-42)
  • Sixth Sunday (07/05): Jesus invites all to Him for rest (Matthew 11:25-30)
  • Seventh Sunday (07/12): Jesus sows different spiritual soils (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23)
  • Eighth Sunday (07/19): Jesus tells a parable about weeds (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43)
  • Ninth Sunday (07/26): Jesus speaks of His giving all for us (Matthew 13:44-52)
  • Tenth Sunday (08/02): Jesus feeds 5,000 (Matthew 14:13-21)
  • Eleventh Sunday (08/09): Jesus walks on water (Matthew 14:22-33)
  • Twelfth Sunday (08/16): Jesus answers a plea for mercy (Matthew 15:21-28)
  • Thirteenth Sunday (08/23): Jesus builds His Church (Matthew 16:13-20)
  • Fourteenth Sunday (08/30): Jesus calls all to take up their crosses (Matthew 16:21-28)
  • Fifteenth Sunday (09/06): Jesus speaks of forgiving one another (Matthew 18:1-20)
  • Sixteenth Sunday (09/13): Jesus warns the unforgiving (Matthew 18:21-35)
  • Seventeenth Sunday (09/20): Jesus tells a parable about grace (Matthew 20:1-16)
  • Eighteenth Sunday (09/27): Jesus’s authority is challenged (Matthew 21:23-32)
  • Nineteenth Sunday (10/04): Jesus speaks of His being rejected (Matthew 21:33-46)
  • Twentieth Sunday (10/11): Jesus tells a parable of a wedding (Matthew 22:1-14)
  • Twenty-first Sunday (10/18): Jesus says to give God what is His (Matthew 22:15-22)
  • Reformation Day (observed) (10/25): Jesus sets free those who abide in His Word (John 8:31-36)
  • All Saints’ Day (11/01): Jesus speaks about the blessed ones (Matthew 5:1-12)
  • Twenty-fourth Sunday (11/08): Watch for Jesus’s Kingdom (Matthew 25:1-13)
  • Twenty-fifth Sunday (11/15): Judgment is coming (Matthew 25:14-30)
  • Last Sunday of the Church Year (11/22): Faith produces works (Matthew 25:31-46)

During this Church Year’s season after Pentecost, Pilgrim is offering one non-Sunday morning Divine Service namely, the Commemoration of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession on Thursday, June 25, at 7:00 p.m. (for which Commemoration the appointed Gospel Reading is Matthew 10:26-33).

Red, white, and green may bring secular Christmas decorations to mind, but, respectively, they are the colors the Church uses for Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and the Sundays after Pentecost. Red brings to mind the fire of the Holy Spirit and the blood of the martyrs who died bearing His message. White brings to mind joy and glad celebrations, light and purity, and the innocence that is ours by Holy Baptism through which we receive Christ’s righteousness. And, green brings to mind the life and growth evident in foliage and fruit. (The Commemoration of the Augsburg Confession and All Saints’ Day also use white, and Reformation Day also uses red.)

Regardless of the day or season, everyone is always invited and welcome in person at Pilgrim Lutheran Church. You can stream live via YouTube using the link on the right near the top. And, you can read and hear any of the sermons preached at Pilgrim here.

The banner graphic at the top of this page and the corresponding slider graphic on the front page were composed by Katy Myers, whom we here thank for her work, using an uncredited image found, for example, here.