Normally, Water Daily reflects upon the Gospel reading appointed for the following Sunday. But the principal text for the Day of Pentecost – this Sunday – is from Acts. So we will focus on that story, and address a Gospel passage on Friday.
Pentecost is one of the Big Three festivals of the Christian calendar, along with Christmas and Easter. Some call it the birthday of the Church; some the one Sunday when we focus on the Holy Spirit. I call it the day the promised power, peace and presence of God came to dwell in God’s people, igniting and initiating the Jesus movement in which we continue today.
Jesus’ followers stayed together during the forty days of his resurrection presence. They watched him ascend into heaven, and then returned to the city, where he told them to wait for the gift promised by the Father, to be "clothed with power from on high." I doubt they knew what that meant, but they continued to wait and to worship, and to stay out of sight of the authorities. Pentecost was a major Jewish feast fifty days after Passover, and they were together in the upper room celebrating it when things got weird:
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.
Maybe this “big entrance” by the Holy Spirit has caused some to expect strange manifestations whenever the Spirit shows up. And there can be phenomena like speaking in tongues, or prophesying, or weeping, or laughing hysterically, or feeling tremendous heat. We read about these in the New Testament and hear about them in churches today. Often, though, the Spirit comes quietly, filling us, rendering us silent in awe and wonder and gratitude. Perhaps how the Spirit comes depends on what God’s purpose is in a given situation.
It seems God had a big purpose for that festival day in Jerusalem. Did God schedule this outpouring of the Spirit for this holiday, when the city would be full of pilgrims from other lands? When the disciples’ sudden, inexplicable ability to speak to visitors in their own languages would impart the Gospel about Jesus to the most people and create the maximum stir? That can go on our list of questions for God. A stir was caused. Jesus’ followers were released into a boldness and effectiveness they had never shown before. And a Jewish reform movement that might have been suppressed or died out of its own accord became a phenomenon which forever changed the world.
Has it changed us? The Spirit is God’s promised gift to all who follow Christ. Our liturgies affirm that we receive the Spirit in baptism, in confirmation – indeed, at every celebration of the eucharist. Yet we need that gift to be released in us. If you would like to be more centered on Christ, more discerning of God’s leading, more effective in ministry, to name a few blessings, pray for the Spirit – already in you – to be further released today. Sometimes that works better when someone else prays it for us. Let’s start where we start, or continue where we continue, as the case may be.
It is the simplest prayer, and the most profound, and the only one we need: “Come, Holy Spirit.” Then wait and notice. You might get sensations or images, or maybe you’ll feel nothing then and notice later. It’s God’s timing… and our willingness to receive. Come, Holy Spirit.
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