Pentecost

A week or so ago, I was with a group of pastors from the UCC church (United Church of Christ). You are probably wondering what they believe, and I would say, “I don’t know.” You might think pastors understand all the distinctions between the denominations, but trust me, we don’t.  I had a class in seminary about it and got some key resources to use when I need to brush up a particular church body. Anyway, at the meeting, one of pastors kept talking about being an “ER” church. Not knowing their lingo, all I could think of was “emergency room.” Maybe they are confessing that they need an ER to revive them? Figuring that was not the case, I finally asked, “What is ER?” They told me Evangelically Reformed, which means they are more like the Lutheran Church in that the pastors have more say in how the congregation is run, rather than all the power being held by the congregation, as in other UCC churches. Regardless, I left knowing a term that is common to them, which was previously unfamiliar to me.

All church bodies use terms that are hard to understand. Some of them make sense when they are explained because they put understandable words to things we can’t easily describe or understand in Scripture. The most common of these terms is Trinity. The word “Trinity” is not in Scripture, but it is commonly used in the Christian world just as if it was. It makes sense to us to use the word Trinity to help clarify a challenging concept in Scripture – one God and three persons. Perhaps this is why we have felt the liberty to create other terms to describe other parts of theology and beliefs within our denomination. However, with fewer and fewer people regularly attending church, it falls more on the pastors to explain these terms. This weekend gives us a chance to talk about a key term that highlights a huge theological point – Pentecost.

Scripture is living, and a living book means we see new things every time we open it and read it. Lately, I have been processing the roles and persons of God. We often teach that the roles of each person of the Trinity are very important. The Father is the creator, Jesus is the redeemer, and the Holy Spirit is the sanctifier. Their roles become important as we see the progression of Scripture and watch the story unfold. The Father spoke in the beginning, Jesus came to restore us, and then the Holy Spirit comes to each of us to guide, protect, and teach us how to love. The verse that stood out to me recently was John 16:7, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” I find it interesting that Jesus says, “it is to your advantage that I go away.” What does that mean?  Does it mean He will no longer be present when the Helper comes?  As I look through Scripture, each person of God has their time when they are the focus, but Scripture is clear in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Therefore, it is clear that Jesus was there in the Old Testament, and is here today. Thus it is for the Father and the Spirit. Their roles never change. Yet it is certainly interesting to hear Him say, “it is to your advantage I go away.”

Pentecost brings a shift in focus to the person of the Holy Spirit, who was not focused on much until Jesus ascended. The Holy Spirit is first seen in a powerful way when he helped the apostles deliver a message to the crowds of Jesus rescuing everyone from sin, death, and the devil. The amazing thing is that the apostles shared that message in the unique languages of the people, languages the apostles didn’t know previously. Now, the Holy Spirit drives the very sanctification in our lives. What does that mean for our Pentecost today?

Sometimes I find myself wishing God the Father would talk to me on a mountain, or Jesus would teach me in a huge crowd, or that I could see one of His healings. Is this what God intended for now? Am I worried more about the past, which I have 20/20 hindsight vision to appreciate, and missing the power of what Holy Spirit is doing today? It makes me wonder if Moses, the disciples, and others had similar feelings. Did Moses want the future to come because he wanted to see Jesus? Did the disciples wish the Father would speak to them on a mountain like He did with Moses on Mt. Sinai? Were the people of the Old and New Testament the same as us in their impatience and desire for a clearer picture of the future? Are we missing what is happening right in front of us today?

The key part of Pentecost, and a powerful one, is we have the Holy Spirit now! One of the lessons I learned early on in life was that my desire to rush into the future was not a helpful thing. I had desires for life to hurry up, and I also had an image of what my future would look like. Now I would say I am at a place where I would not have wanted to see back then. It is not because things are bad, but if I had that foreknowledge, I am not sure how I would have acted. As a teenager, there was no way I could have embraced that kind of thinking. As an adult, I am embracing it and trying to enjoy each moment of each day. I wonder if it would be helpful to think like that about our Christian walk – enjoy each moment and embrace the gift and power of the Holy Spirit in our life. God gave us a unique season, different from the people of the Old and New Testament. As Jesus said, it is better for Him to go away so we can have the Holy Spirit. This weekend we’ll talk about the unique season we are in, and why Pentecost is so important in our lives right now today.