I was talking to some folk yesterday who attend a different church than we do. (I won’t disclose their names or the denomination to protect the innocent!) It is a non-liturgical church where the concepts of the “Christian calendar” or the “church year” are almost unheard of. I was not surprised, therefore, to discover they had no idea that yesterday was Pentecost.
I must admit that Pentecost was no big deal, if it was mentioned at all, in the Presbyterian congregation in which I grew up. But times have changed. Although Presbyterians don’t fill the pews on Pentecost the way they do on Christmas or Easter, the festival is celebrated with increasing enthusiasm every year with special music, balloons and many congregants wearing red clothing.
I like to think that I’m too good a liberal to believe that I am right and those non-liturgical churches are wrong, but I am sad that so many church-goers know almost nothing of the Biblical story. They hear bits and pieces of the Bible that support whatever topic is being discussed, but not much sense of the whole Biblical story. They do celebrate Christmas and Easter, so why do they forget Pentecost?
Our pastor did a great job of emphasizing that Pentecost is not the first time the Holy Spirit is given to God’s people. She showed how the Spirit has been present every step along the way in our faith story, beginning at the very beginning in Genesis, and is present with us today. My favorite definition of the Holy Spirit is the present tense of Jesus Christ. An excellent statement about the work of the Holy Spirit is found in the Confession of 1967:
God the Holy Spirit fulfills the work of reconciliation [among us]. The Holy Spirit creates and renews the church as the community in which [we] are reconciled to God and to one another. He enables [us] to receive forgiveness as [we] forgive one another and to enjoy the peace of God as [we] make peace among [ourselves]. In spite of [our] sin, he gives [us] power to become representatives of Jesus Christ and his gospel of reconciliation to all [people]. (Adapted)
No, Pentecost is not the first time we see the Holy Spirit at work, but it is a celebration of the Holy Spirit and the traditional birthday of the Church. How can we be Trinitarian and not take note of Pentecost?
