Pentecost
Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104:24-34, 35b; Romans 8:22-27; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Happy birthday to the royal priesthood of all believers and the beloved church of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. It has been around for approximately two thousand and twenty-some years and will remain around for as long as the Holy Spirit of truth wishes.
At the Christian Festival of Pentecost, we are reminded that all believers mean all believers from every time and place. In John, Jesus announces the Advocate, the Holy Spirit of Truth, who will testify on his behalf after he ascends (15:26). The Spirit will advocate for us in his absence, for the Spirit will speak whatever Jesus wants to say to us and guide us to wherever Jesus wishes us to go (16:13).
To the early church in Rome, Paul teaches that Christians can hope for and trust in the Spirit they cannot see (8:23-24), for the Spirit intercedes for us “with sighs too deep for words (26)” and “according to the will of God (27).”
In Acts, the church is born, and the good news of Jesus is prophesied—or proclaimed—from Jerusalem to the whole world in every language known to humanity. The old promise of joyful restoration from the Lord, first spoken through the prophet Joel (chapter 2), is now fulfilled. The Spirit of the Lord is now upon humanity. Sons and daughters, male and female, old and young, are empowered to partake in this joy and speak on behalf of God.
The psalmist invites us to sing!
“O LORD, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
There is the sea, great and wide;
creeping things innumerable are there,
living things both small and great.
May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD rejoice in his works.
I will sing to the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.”
(Psalm 104:24-25, 31, 33; NRSVue)
Bridging Faith 