WAYS TO BEGIN: Greet each student. Together, decorate your space with red and yellow streamers and balloons to celebrate Pentecost. If you are not planning a church-wide celebration, have a birthday cake, candles, juice for a snack at the end of class.

THE THEME: God sends the Holy Spirit to empower the disciples for their ministry.

THE STORY: Use either the reading from Acts 2:1-11 or the Gospel, John 20:19-23. Have someone read it aloud.

SOME QUESTIONS TO TALK ABOUT:

1. How do you understand the third person of the Trinity, namely the Holy Spirit?
2. What does it mean to you to "receive the Holy Spirit"?
3. In the story in Acts, the disciples were in the midst of a mighty wind and tongues of fire burned above their heads. What do the symbols of wind and fire suggest to you? (You might want to point out that we commonly use figures of speech such as "blown away" or "burning desire" to describe something.)
4. In John's Gospel the coming of the Spirit is linked with our ability to forgive and be forgiven. What does it mean to you to forgive someone who has wronged you? What does it mean to you when someone forgives you for something you have done? Can you share a story about forgiveness, either about you or someone else?
5. Spirit is also understood as receiving power. (i.e. being able to share the story of God and having it understood by others). How is the power from the Holy Spirit different from the kind of power we usually think of? How do you see people or the Church "empowered" by the Holy Spirit?
6. Consider the famous photo of the Chinese student standing in front of the tanks during the revolution armed only with a bouquet of flowers. What kind of power does this photo suggest?
7. If Pentecost marks the beginning of the Church (the Birthday), how do you understand the mission of the church for today? What should this church do if it is to be a source of power in the world?
8. Read aloud the following poem by Madeleine L'Engle. Discuss what it means.

Sonnet, Trinity 18

Peace is the centre of the atom, the core
Of quiet within the storm. It is not
A cessation, a nothingness; more
The lightning in reverse is what
Reveals the light. It is the law that binds
The atom's structure, ordering the dance
Of proton and electron, and that finds
Within the midst of flame and wind, the glance
In the still eye of the vast hurricane.
Peace is not placidity; peace is
The power to endure the megatron of pain
With joy, the silent thunder of release,
The ordering of Love. Peace is the atom's start,
The primal image. God within the heart.

End the class with a party.