Pentecost

Poor Pentecost! In the church’s law of prayer, it is a feast of the Gospel on par with Christmas and Easter, but in practice is treated like any other Sunday. It’s a comment, not only the significance of the feast, but on our theological ignorance and spiritual insensitivity. The Spirit comes to kindle a fire in our hearts, and all we offer him is a little damp dust.

On Whitsunday, which is the old English name of the feast, we commemorate the fulfilment of Christ’s promise, that once ascended to the Father, he would send forth the Spirit on his disciples, and in history of that event is set forth in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Only the first part is read at the Lord’s Supper on this day, but you can take a few minutes to read the entire chapter – it’s the least you can do to make up for our neglect of this great feast! (This is where you open your Bibles, blowing dust off them if need be!)

The chapter falls into three larger parts. The first part (vv.1-11) tells how the Spirit came on the disciples. It was the Jewish pilgrim feast of Pentecost, they were gathered together with one accord in one place, and the Spirit came with the sound of a storm wind and the appearance of flames – signs of God’s power and purity. The Spirit filled the disciples, so that they empowered emboldened to speak “the wonderful works of God” in creation and redemption – not only in their native Aramaic, but in the native languages of the diaspora Jewish pilgrims who heard them speaking. The Spirit is power – the almighty power of God the Creator – bestowed on the Church to speak God’s word, to publish the gospel, and to do so across all frontiers of language, culture, ethnicity.

The next and longest part (vv 12-40) is Peter’s preaching to the crowd of Jews in Jerusalem – the first publishing of the gospel, in which he sets forth in speech the reason and meaning of this miraculous event. He draws on Old Testament prophecy, to show that this outpouring of the Spirit is the fulfilment of God’s promise of salvation; and he bears witness to Jesus, as the one through whom the prophecy has been fulfilled: “God hat made this same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (v. 36). Peter confronts them with the hard truth of their sin, and many hearing him are “pricked in their heart” and asked “what shall we do?”. But Peter speaks the truth in love: and judgment accepted opens the door to mercy: “repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (v. 38). The Spirit is power – the power of the Word of God – bestowed on the Church to publish the gospel, to convict an unbelieving world of its sin and Christ’s righteousness and the judgment of this world’s prince (John 16L8-11), that hearing, it may repent and believe and be saved.

Peter’s appeal does not fall on deaf ears, and there is a huge response. In the final part of the chapter (vv.41-47) is a summary description of the Church’s life in communion and fellowship of faith and charity, for it is the Church that is the fruit of the Gospel. From this very beginning the church is marked by steadfast continuance “in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and of prayers” – the life shared discipleship; by reverent awareness (“fear”) of God’s presence and activity manifested in “wonders and signs”; by communion and fellowship of mutual charity (and especially in selfless material provision for its members in need), and corporate worship. Allowing for some difference in circumstances, this is a thumbnail template for the Church’s life in every age, including our own. The Spirit is power – the power of the Creator and of his Word; of the Father and of the Son – to establish by the Gospel a community united in faith and charity, a community in which human beings share in the very life of God, because God by Christ has shared with us his life in the gift of the Spirit.

There are many prescriptions for the health and renewal of the Church in our age, but the proclamation of the Word of God in the power of the Spirit is the essential wellspring. Come down, Creator Spirit, and kindle the fire of thy love in the hearts of thy faithful people.