At Pentecost we celebrate the birth of the church as the Holy Spirit is given to us as a gift – available to us always, every day.  We honour the historical Pentecost story as flames of the Spirit came to rest on each of the disciples and give them the gift of speaking and uttering many languages.

The first reference to the gifts of the Sprit comes in Isaiah (11:2-3). We hear of the gifts to ancient Israel of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, fear of the Lord and joy in God’s presence.  Both 1 Corinthians (12:4-11) and Galatians (5:22-23) speak of nine fruits of the Spirit. Whatever the variety of gifts, we must celebrate that God can be present to us through the Holy Spirit to us in these ways.

We are called to not only bear witness to the gifts in ministry of others, but to expand our own. We must trust that the Spirit of God will sustain us with these gifts. Indeed, we invite the Spirit of God to sustain us with these gifts. Christ has no hands but ours. We are the flames of light taking the love of God into the world around us. There are seven flames in this design each in a different silk fabric colour, which symbolize the gifts of the Spirit. The blue planet symbolizes our taking the gifts into the world. 

The Cross used here in this stole is the Cross Crosslet, an appropriate cross for Pentecost as it symbolizes the Holy Spirit becoming available to all in the four corners of the world.

The dove descending into the flames of the Spirit reminds us of the Holy Spirit descending from the heavens at the baptism of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Red stoles are worn for other celebratory days such as Ordinations and Baptisms so a joyful and colourful design was important.

As a part of the cross series, there is a cross at the center back of the stole.