In many of the Episcopal Churches of which I’ve been a part, there is a regular tradition of wearing red on Pentecost. Red, of course is the liturgical color of the day, but it also matches the fire images that accompany the day. Opportunities to red the place up and evoke the tongues of fire are naturally important elements, and I’m excited to see them again this year.

So please, do wear red. I’m just asking us to wear more than red.

Not that people only wear red in our church. That would be kind of weird, after all: a room full of people in red bodysuits and red dresses and red suits with red shirts and red ties. That would be such a fascinating sight…

No, we don’t normally do that. Normally, we get people to wear some red in their outfit. For me, that’s probably just going to be my socks. I have yet to find a real red clergy shirt for men (that I would spend money on).

Wearing red on Pentecost feels like a small, token tribute to arguably the most significant event in Christian history, and certainly the most significant for us. Yes, the death and bodily resurrection of Jesus is probably reserved for number one if we have to rank order them, but I refuse to do so! I think this sequence is all of one: death, resurrection, ascension, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. All of that is of one substance: it is of one nature.

It seems that every time we elevate the resurrection above its context we are really saying Goblet of Fire is the best Harry Potter book (it is) or Empire Strikes Back is the best Star Wars movie (it totally is) while also suggesting that the rest of the story is inconsequential or of no value. No Potter or Star Wars fan would name favorites and not engage fully with the rest of the story, but in the church we do. We say “Christ died, then he rose.” As if that were the end of it.

The story doesn’t end there. Even with the sighting stories, even with the various resurrection stories, you get more than death and life. And in Matthew, Luke, and John, you get departure again.

Then in Acts, we get the fulfillment of the promise. We get the Pentecost. We get the tongues of fire and the Babel-busting in-breaking Spirit swooping in and making the world permanently different. This is a big day, and the opening to the next chapter in our world’s history and relationship with GOD.

So yeah, Pentecost is a big deal. And has been for a long, long time.

Pentecost also means something. It means the Spirit is here. The Spirit is always here with us. This is our day to celebrate the Spirit. So I don’t want us to only wear red because of liturgical colors. Instead, wear red like a team jersey. Wear red like we’re superfans of Team Spirit. But don’t only wear red.

Wear the Holy Spirit.

Because this isn’t the church’s birthday (wahoo). It is the radical, life-altering day in which we acknowledge that the Spirit shows up, that the Spirit has plans, that the Spirit is GOD among us. Even after Jesus is gone. Even after there will be no rabbi to teach us. Even after there is no more walk to Jerusalem. Even after there are no more dinners with our friend. There is this wildness that comes among us. There is this thing that is no person, that is no animal, that isn’t made of carbon, to touch and throw away and decay.

It is the Spirit, riling us up.

So don’t come to church all quiet and mopey. Don’t come to listen and sit and watch. Don’t come expecting worship to be the same as it always is, as we always prescribe it to be. Come to church wearing your red, but also come expecting to wear the Spirit. Come and leave room for the Spirit. Come and know that the Spirit does stuff to us. Stuff that makes our staid and tired movements antiquated and our barren liturgies hollow. Stuff that drives us into new places and hopes and expressions that normally, we don’t allow.

Let the Spirit in! Let her be inside of you and around you! Let her move you! Let her have a space right beside you! Let her have room in our worship to move and breathe and speak! Let her move your lips to say Amen! when you’re feeling it! Let her loose!

Pentecost, of all days, is not the day of rules and order. It is the day rules and order were broken by GOD so that we could have GOD with us always. So let’s celebrate by breaking some rules. Even Especially the WASPy ones we impose on ourselves.