Pentecost – the Beginning of the Church!

Well, tonight’s post starts with an admission – I blew it… You may recall that 50 days ago, I wrote about Easter and liturgical colors – that is, the various colors that represent the seasons of the church calendar. Easter, and the days following, are represented by the color white. During Eastertide, the period following Easter, I fully intended to write about the Ascension of Jesus 40 days after Easter (that occurred on Thursday, May 13th.) Well, I just forgot. That’s it – no great excuses – I just plain forgot, and I am sorry.

But that doesn’t mean that I can’t try to make amends and make reference to it this evening, along with the subject of today’s post, Pentecost. In fact, today the liturgical color changed to red – a reminder of the flames of fire that were present as the Holy Spirit descended on the crowd; and the church that Jesus envisioned and told the apostles about was started.

As Jesus was preparing for His return to His Father in heaven, He commanded the apostles to wait for the Spirit – the Holy Spirit. Now remember, for several years, Jesus taught and the disciples spent their time traveling, spreading the Good News and watching miracles being performed. Now, Jesus was telling them to sit tight – wait and pray – that’s it. Don’t rush around – just wait for the Holy Spirit. Those who gathered together did just that – they waited – for 10 days – until the Holy Spirit arrived and the church was born.

It was an exciting day. In fact, still today people desire to be part of an Acts 2 church – that’s the chapter of the Scripture where Luke tells us what it was like to be there that day. Peter gave the first sermon of the new church and Luke recounts the presence of the Holy Spirit – originally promised by Jesus – as the new church took off. People were baptized, they ate together and donated freely to one another so that they all shared whatever they had. When the Holy Spirit descended on the crowd, each person heard others in their own native tongue.

In fact, this is the end of one of the longest “chiastic” stories in the Bible. Remember the story of the Tower of Babel? When God confused the languages of people and scattered the folks throughout the face of the earth? Well, at Pentecost, they all heard and understood each other – in spite of the fact that many different people groups and languages were present. And people were no longer scattered – these various people groups were represented at the beginning of the church – they were at the same place at the same time.

This means that at Pentecost, God reversed what had happened at the Tower of Babel – the end of a very long, special story in the Bible – sometimes referred to as a “chiasm.” You may also remember the Garden of Eden when God first walked with Adam and Eve – and in Revelation, we are told that there will be a garden – and God will be among us… this is the longest “chiastic” story in the Bible.

The idea of Biblical community really started at Pentecost. We are to worship together, share with each other and love one another the way they did when the church first started.

Our verse for tonight highlights the words that Luke gave us about what it was like to be present when the Holy Spirit arrived that 50th day after the resurrection of Jesus – and 10 days after His return to the Father in heaven. Luke, the detailed doctor tells us, in Acts 2:1-4, “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

My encouragement this evening is that it isn’t too late to catch the excitement of the Acts 2 church. Yes, it is elusive – especially in this day when people seem to be so selfish and out for themselves. But we are commanded to love one another and that’s a great start. In the meantime, my prayer is that we can all just wait and pray – that’s right – just wait and contemplate what it could be like to have the Holy Spirit directing our steps as we listen to the words of Jesus and act accordingly. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…