O Happy Day! (聖靈降臨日, 2023)

#2023-0528

~~ 聖靈降臨日 / The Day of Pentecost ~~

讀福音 (in different languages),

獻詩 O Happy Day, etc.

It's the Day of Pentecost today. Also known as "Whitsunday" -- I was curious about the original meaning of Whitsunday, or Whit Sunday, or Whitsun. So I checked Wikipedia for explanation, which tells that the word Whitsun literally means "white Sunday."

Here are two similar language notes that I've just found:

1. ME whitsondei < OE Hwita Sunnandæg, lit., white Sunday: prob. from the white garments of candidates for baptism.
2. [bef. 1100; ME whitsonenday, OE Hwīta Sunnanæg white Sunday; prob. so called because the newly baptized wore white robes on that day]

But in our church, the altar, candles, pulpit, lectern, etc., had been decorated in red (in addition to white!) to celebrate the Day of Pentecost. And many people who came to the service today wore red clothes and/or accessories to celebrate this important Christian holiday.

In addition to the visible cheery red, today's celebrations were audible (= can be heard) in two other ways:

1. The gospel for today was read in different languages -- for example, in English (by Rev. Lily Chang), French (by Jesse Simmons), Mandarin (by Doris Chang), German (by Hans Geiger), Hakka (by Jack Feng), Korean (by Pecky Park), and Spanish (by D. J. Wang).
2. The choir sang such beautiful songs -- (1) Down in the River, (2) God's Holy Spirit, (3) O Happy Day, etc.

What a happy day it is today! Thanks be to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.

If you click the video clip below, 

you'll see how happy we were today. 

~~ 歡迎點閱下面的影音片段 O Happy Day ~~

= = =

相關文章：

1)  The Day of Pentecost     (2022)

2)  The Day of Pentecost, 2020     (2020)

3)  The Day of Pentecost, 2018     (2018)