Pentecost is the day on which we
celebrate the disciples receiving the Holy Spirit and becoming inspired to
spread the Good News about Jesus to the whole world. Some traditions celebrate
this day as the birthday of the Church, since it represents the turning point
when the disciples ceased to be afraid of proclaiming their faith and started
sharing it with others, and thus the Church was able to be born. Prior to
Pentecost, the disciples spent a lot of time locked up behind closed doors –
that’s where Jesus found them after the Resurrection. Following Pentecost, we
have countless stories of the disciples preaching the Gospel to people all over
the known world, even at risk of their own lives.
On the day of Pentecost, the
Holy Spirit appeared like tongues of fire on the disciples, young and old, male
and female, and they started proclaiming the message of salvation through Jesus
in many different languages. The Spirit came into the disciples – they were
in-Spirited, inspired – so that they could share the Gospel with the whole
world.
Pentecost was a Jewish
festival, occurring 50 days after Passover (notice the prefix “pent” for 5), so
many people would have been gathered in Jerusalem on this day to celebrate. The
disciples started speaking in the native languages of everyone present. Imagine
Times Square on New Year’s Eve – and then imagine that instead of a ball
dropping, the Holy Spirit comes down and a few of the attendees start to create
such a ruckus in so many languages that everyone there can’t help but pay
attention. That is sort of like what happened on Pentecost. A crowd was
gathered in the big city to celebrate a holiday, and after the Holy Spirit
showed up, a small group of people started causing a disturbance that
distracted everyone from the primary purpose of their initial gathering.
On Pentecost, we celebrate
the movement of the Holy Spirit among God’s people all around the world. We can
do this in worship by singing hymns from various cultures, or by reading the
Bible lessons or prayers in many languages. We can do this in our lives as
individuals and as a community by learning about other cultures, by traveling,
by financially supporting ministries in developing countries, and by reaching
out to people in our own neighborhoods who look and act differently from us.
When we meet people and cultures that seem foreign from our perspective, the
Pentecost story helps us remember to interact with them knowing that God’s
Spirit is active among them. The Holy Spirit was poured out on all people.
Though God relates
intimately with all people – male and female, young and old, slave and free, of
all different nationalities – God does not erase the people’s differences. They
are all united by the Spirit, but they also all keep their unique identities. God
doesn’t suddenly cause all people to start speaking the same language; instead,
God enables understanding across languages. So often people try to pull others
into their circle – neighborhood, church, social group – by making those other
people look just like themselves. But that is not what God wants. God gives the
disciples the tools necessary to reach people of all nationalities, on their
own terms, in their own languages. God does not require all the people to learn
the disciples’ language – instead, they must adapt to the cultures of others so
that the others might be able to hear the Gospel. Similarity is not necessary
for unity in Christ.
Pentecost
teaches us that the Holy Spirit comes to young people and old people, to male
and female, to people of all races and nationalities. May the Holy Spirit guide
and fill us and our worshipping communities, and prepare us to meet God in
others who are totally unlike us.
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