{"id":1751,"date":"2016-05-02T13:55:53","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T17:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/?p=1751"},"modified":"2016-05-05T15:08:27","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T19:08:27","slug":"two-new-books-for-pentecost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/two-new-books-for-pentecost\/","title":{"rendered":"Two New Books for Pentecost"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alexis Kruza, buildfaith.org<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Whoosh! Crackle! The Holy Spirit comes in both quiet whispers and blazing fire, sparking our faith and inviting us onward. As we look ahead to celebrating Pentecost, Paraclete Press\u2019 new editions are sure to awaken spirits, young and old.<\/p>\n

A Children\u2019s Book for Pentecost<\/strong>
\nThe Day When God Made Church<\/a><\/em>: A Child\u2019s First Book about Pentecost by Rebekah McLeod Hutto, Illustrated by Stephanie Haig<\/p>\n

The Day When God Made \"Day<\/a>Church<\/em>\u00a0immediately draws readers of all ages into the Acts 2 story of Pentecost. Haig\u2019s illustrations give deep meaning to Hutto\u2019s child-like words that tell how the disciples wait\u2026wait\u2026WAIT in the Upper Room. At first, the reader sees men, women, children, and animals portrayed plainly in solid colors. The first inkling of the Holy Spirit comes visually with a bright blue spark, and the patterned orange flame of an ancient lamp. One turn of the page makes the reader gasp in awe at the Holy Spirit\u2019s presence: joyful patterns of bright colors fill the pages, swirling around the people, dog, cow, and dove!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The story continues as colors visually represent the Holy Spirit\u2019s wind and fire, warming the disciples\u2019 hearts. Blue swirls turn into drops of rain filled with words from a host of different languages, eliciting sounds like drumbeats and whispers. Young readers will love to interact with these pages as their imaginations, curiosity, and enthusiasm are engaged by a sense of wonder.<\/p>\n

The story draws readers into\u00a0the disciples\u2019 questions:\u00a0Who is the Holy Spirit? \u2026 \u00a0What is happening? \u2026\u00a0Why do we feel so different? \u2026\u00a0Why do we hear so many languages?<\/em><\/p>\n

These questions beautifully set the scene for remembering Jesus, as well as for Peter\u2019s definition of the church: We are a family that shares, eats, and worships together. The story ends with a jubilant \u201cAlleluia!\u201d and a visual invitation to the Lord\u2019s table, evoking the famous Holy Trinity icon.<\/p>\n

Bonus Material for Teaching<\/strong>
\nParents, educators, and pastors will appreciate the Author\u2019s Note providing historical information, as well as spiritual formation ideas for celebrating Pentecost with all ages:
\n\u2022 Bake a birthday cake to celebrate the day God made\u00a0Church!
\n\u2022 Make streamers and hang banners filled with red, the symbolic color of the Holy Spirit\u2019s fire and Pentecost.
\n\u2022 Scatter red rose petals down church aisles.
\n\u2022 Light candles.
\n\u2022 Create windsocks or pinwheels.
\n\u2022 All in all, celebrate the day God made Church!<\/p>\n

\n

Alexis Kruza is a Christian educator who specializes in designing arts-integrated curriculum that gives students the opportunity to meaningfully connect their real lives and God\u2019s word. She partners with churches to create interactive children\u2019s programs and can be reached at\u00a0alexiskruza.wordpress.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexis Kruza, buildfaith.org Whoosh! Crackle! The Holy Spirit comes in both quiet whispers and blazing fire, sparking our faith and inviting us onward. As we look ahead to celebrating Pentecost, Paraclete Press\u2019 new editions are sure to awaken spirits, young … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paraclete-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1751\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}