Tomorrow is Pentecost Sunday! It’s a big deal in our neck of the woods. I have been a vocal apologist for the church calendar for quite a while. The reason for this is not because I think there is salvation in a calendar but because I believe there is salvation in whom the Calendar points to.
For the two of you worried about my enthusiasm to continue this program, don’t worry. I am fully proteinied-up for the next decade. My liturgical muscles won’t atrophy. For those still curious about what I am proposing, let me sketch this out:
We are talking only about Classic Reformational and Lutheran celebrations, including Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. In other words, these are conspicuously Christ-Centered feasts. These feasts exalt the work and name of Jesus. Jesus. More Jesus.
Some may say, “But we celebrate Easter all year long. Why do we have to set time aside to celebrate Pentecost in particular?” While this comment is noble, it is important to note that you can’t always say everything lest you say nothing at all. There is simply no way to celebrate all these events all the time. Hence, the Church has developed a way of commemorating, remembering, and internalizing the life of Jesus throughout the year.
So, what is Pentecost, and how can we celebrate this Feast?
Pentecost means the “fiftieth day” because it is the 50th day after Passover. This was also the Feast of the Harvest. In fact, we can say that Pentecost in Acts 2 is the great fulfillment of all previous Pentecosts. The Old Testament Feasts led us to this fiery moment of redemptive history in the first century. The Great Harvest Feast is now being fulfilled, and God is harvesting the nations. Since Christ is sitting at the Father’s right hand, the nations are being given to Jesus Christ as an inheritance (Ps. 110) through the ministry of the Church.
How can I celebrate this Feast?
Pentecost goes from the 28th of May to the 2nd of December. One way to be liturgically self-conscious is by practicing a few things.
First, you may consider wearing something red this Sunday. Remember the promise of Acts 2 that the Spirit would be poured out like fire. Pentecost is the re-birth of the Church. Red symbolizes the fire that came from heaven and indwelt the Church as they moved from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Secondly, use this time to talk to your children about the Holy Spirit. The Third Person of the Godhead is often set aside as the forgotten Person of the Trinity, but he should not be. We must remember that Jesus refers to the Spirit as our Comforter (Jn. 14:16). Reading Acts 2 and other passages about the work of the Spirit is a healthy way of bringing recognition to the One who is truly God.
Thirdly, allow this feast, which celebrates the subversion of Babel, to be a reminder that God has made a new humanity through his Spirit. We are no longer a divided ethnos but one new creation of Jews and Gentiles. Live out gospel reconciliation in every possible situation. As Malcolm Guite puts it, “Whose mother tongue is Love in every nation.”
Finally, do not be hopeless in this season. God has not left us orphans. The absence of Jesus’ physical body on earth means his presence at the right hand of the Father in heaven is one of power and might. He rules and reigns by his Spirit, forming a resurrected creation under his reign.
May Your Pentecost be Mighty! Rejoice greatly! The Spirit is among us!
