The Promise of Pentecost

The day of Pentecost is celebrated as the birthday of the Church. It is a key turning point relationship between God and humanity. Though Pentecost heralded something new and exciting in our relationship with God it was not unexpected. Through the prophets, God had been promising this new closer relationship for centuries. Peter made this connection as he spoke that first Pentecost. Quoting the Prophet Joel he said; 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. 18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. (NRS Acts 2:17) This is a promise of an active and exciting new relationship, the promise upon which our church is founded.

Jesus has also spoken many times about this new relationship. His instructions to his disciples as he was leaving them for the last time reflect the importance he placed upon the coming of the Holy Spirit. He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." (NRS Luke 24:46)

The promise of God that is fulfilled in Christ Jesus is the coming of the Holy Spirit and the power for mission and ministry that come with it. It is upon this promise that all Christian Churches are founded. Because of this precious gift, God's great outpouring we never need to be alone again.

The presence and power of the Holy Spirit is the mortar that holds the church together. It connects us all, binding us together as the body of Christ. The manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians that Peter and Paul in the early Church often prayed for people who had been Baptized but showed on indication in their lives of the Spirit's power. It was also the presence of the Holy Spirit in the household of the Roman Centurion Cornelius that helped Peter come to the decision to baptize the first non Jewish Christians. After all, it was already evident through the power of the Holy Spirit that God was with them.

The Power of the Holy Spirit, which was the hallmark of the early Church, is sadly limited or even missing in many Churches today. This lack has so changed the church that Gordon Fee, a noted Scholar, said he doubted that Paul would even recognize the church today. The power of the Holy Spirit, God's promise fulfilled, is vital if we as the people of God are going to engage in the mission and ministry to which we have
been called.

Pentecost, the day we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit is also; quite appropriately, the day we celebrate Confirmation. This ritual is the place our Church prays specifically for the gift of God's Spirit to fall upon each person. We ask the Lord to empower them that they might have the strength and the gifts to serve God as a part of the Body of Christ.

As we celebrate Pentecost this year, let us all join in praying that the power of the Spirit may descend upon us all. That through our lives, and the life of Resurrection Lutheran Church the power of God be clearly visible, and the community around us be able to see our changed lives. This is the light shining in the darkness Jesus told us we could be. May God's Spirit descend upon us all this Pentecost Season.

Pastor Jim

Pastor's Notes Archive