“Happy birthday to us, happy birthday to us, happy birthday dear chu-urch, happy birthday to us!” It’s here! That wonderful day on the calendar that marks 50 days after the Feast of Easter. We dazzle everyone with our use of fancy words and call the day, Pentecost.
So, on that first Pentecost day, the disciples had been hiding behind locked doors since they were afraid that they, like Jesus, would be rounded up, persecuted and killed for following Jesus. While they were huddled together, the Holy Spirit came upon them and gave them a boldness of speech and spirit. They flung open the doors and began to proclaim the good news of God’s love to any who would listen.
People heard, perhaps for the first time, that they were loved and cherished by God. No matter their status in community, nor their wealth, nor their race “nor anything else in all creation would separate them from the love of God through Jesus Christ.”
That was, and still is, good news. Since that first Pentecost day, we have joined with others around the world who have called Jesus, “Saviour and Lord.” It was a day of new birth.
However, this day will only hold significance if we participate as the disciples did, and fling open the closed places of our hearts and minds and proclaim with boldness that God’s love is acting amongst us. The Spirit continues to move us beyond our complacency and declare, by our words and deeds, that God brings new life.
Happy Pentecost everyone!
