Pentecost Sunday Study

Lessons & Meditations, Pentecost

THE DAY OF PENTECOST   05-23-2021

FIRST READING:   Acts 2:1-21   (FLAMES IN OUR HAIR AND FIRE IN OUR BLOOD!)

 Originally Pentecost was a Jewish festival to give thanks for the spring harvest. It was one of the most important religious celebrations in the Jewish calendar. Its occurrence fifty days after Passover corresponded with the tradition that Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai fifty days after the Exodus. Each year fifty days after Passover, Jews who had been scattered all over the world made a holy pilgrimage back to Jerusalem to worship in the Temple, to offer their thanks and sacrifice, and to give their offerings of first fruits to God for the completion of the grain harvest. Pentecost was also called the Festival of Weeks, and its Hebrew name was Shavout.

Ten days after the ascension of Jesus, a hidden community of 120 of his followers that was gathered in Jerusalem – afraid, prayerful, waiting, and expectant – is transformed by the burning and blowing power of the Holy Spirit into the witnessing community of Christ, the Church – courageous, united, overflowing with love, and out in the street in public and with a purpose! As a result of the Spirit-powered witness of these first Christians, about 3,000 people joined up with Jesus that day. Christians celebrate the Day of Pentecost as the birthday of the Church. 

On Pentecost Day the mission of communicating the good news of Jesus Christ to others began.  This mission continues in the Church that is alive today – here, there, and everywhere. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to come into our own hearts and deeds, lend fire to our words and strength to our witness. We have a call. Let’s not ignore it. We have an opportunity. Let’s not miss it. This is our day. This is our time. Let’s be and become the Church here, now, all over, and on purpose!

Who might you tell? Who might you offer the love of Jesus Christ? Just remember – you might seem so fresh, new, alive, and different from the world’s values and ways that people might think you are INTOXICATED. And, in truth, you are. Through the wind and the fire of the Holy Spirit, you will be DRUNK WITH JOY and CRAZY WITH LOVE! 

 

SECOND READING:   Romans 8:22-27   (GROANING FOR CHANGE, SPIRIT SUPPORTED!)

Paul suggests that the entire creation is like a pregnant woman groaning in labor pains, about to give birth. Something is about to happen… but for now there is that waiting, some struggle, and our anticipation of something better ahead. In God’s own time the entire creation will share what Christians have already begun to experience – new life. It is through the Holy Spirit that Christians are seeking to be patient and prayerful in their hope for full adoption into God’s beloved community, redemption even of their physical bodies, and new creation. 

Romans 8:22 speaks of a world, both creation, and creature, “groaning” in anticipation of complete redemption. Paul had reason to groan sometimes. Though he overcame his past as a persecutor of Christians, others never did. He was held in suspicion by Jewish Christians and often beaten or persecuted by those whose cause he once championed. He was imprisoned, placed on trial, and ultimately executed by the Roman civil government because of his representation of Jesus Christ. He went through many varied trials and tribulations. Nevertheless, to Paul life was not a weary, defeated waiting; it was a throbbing, vivid expectation. It looked to the future with hope.

What have you “groaned”? Hatred? Violence? Racism? Injustice? Your own suffering or the suffering of others? Greed and godlessness? A polluted and endangered environment? Days that seem to lack light or meaning or even a moment of peace?

In his weakest moments Paul felt the presence and strengthening of the Holy Spirit, the notion that the Spirit was praying alongside him, maybe “with sighs too deep for words”.   

When you don’t have the prayer words, the Holy Spirit will help translate the message to God! 

GOSPEL READING:  John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15   (INSPIRED, EMPOWERED BY THE SPIRIT!)                  

  We remember back to the upper room on the last night that Jesus was alive when he tried to prepare his disciples for his death. Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as “the Advocate” and described the difference the Spirit would make in their lives and in the world. Jesus knew that they couldn’t bear to hear all the details on such a mysterious night of last conversation and interaction. He understood how they would fall into shock and sorrow as his arrest, execution, and death emerged from the shadows of that evening. He wanted them to feel encouraged and even strengthened through it all. And he promised them that they would experience the dynamic truth and the saving power of God’s redeeming love.

    Pentecost calls us to recognize that the Spirit is alive and active not just on a spectacular day in the first century but constantly and always – even now. Like the first disciples, we are not alone, we are not forever abandoned by Jesus, we are not helpless. A Helper has been provided! Trust in the Lord. Be patient. Stay prayerful. Receive that blessing, that truth, and that strength that will make all the difference as you seek to live faithfully and love fervently.