June 5, 2022 – Pentecost

“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” Acts 2:1-12

Pentecost – literally translated as “50^th Day”. It is an ancient harvest festival call “Shavvot” or “The Feast of Weeks”. It was a one day festival celebrated by the Jews as appointed by G-d in Leviticus 23 – celebrated 50 days after the Passover. Israelites from all over would travel to Jerusalem to praise G-d for the bounty and grace they had received from G-d. In the miracle of the harvest, they would have seen the hand of G-d blessing them – and as such they felt the need to thank G-d.

For you and me, the day of Pentecost comes on the 50^th day after the Resurrection of Jesus. On the 40^th day Jesus ascended into heaven – promising his disciples that he would return to them one day – but also promising them that they would receive the gift of the spirit. Ten days later, as they were gathering for this harvest festival, the Holy Spirit did come – in a rush – in a dramatic fashion – promising to continue to blow open the doors if not blow down the doors of their faith. What would they do with the power of the Holy Spirit?

What are we going to do? What can we do empowered by the Holy Spirit? That is our question to ponder this day. Pentecost is big – a huge event – but Pentecost is also filled with little signs and wonders as well. We see the little signs – and of course the big signs in our country that all is not well. The most recent school shooting in Texas – 19 elementary-aged children killed because someone felt such anger or separation or loneliness that he chose to turn to a gun rather than choosing to share their pain with their voice. It is one of the many, many signs that our country needs the presence, and the power of the Holy Spirit. There is no time to wait……there are plenty of signs around us — we need to allow others to witness how the power of the Holy Spirit is leading us – through our words and our actions of love, mercy and Grace.

Pastor Dave