With all of the hustle and bustle that seems to come with Christmas and Easter, it could easily be deduced that Pentecost if not forgotten, has been relegated down the list of importance when it comes to the church calendar. Coming as it does after Easter, Resurrection Sunday and Mother's Day and just before Queen’s Birthday weekend, it can easily be squeezed out of our thinking or passed by with little thought given to it. Pentecost happened on the Jewish ‘Festival of the Weeks’, usually referred to as Shavuot. Shavuot comes fifty days after the second day of Passover and celebrates the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, the written covenant with Israel. What an amazing thing that God poured out His Spirit and initiated His Church on the anniversary of His giving of the Torah! We see the fulfillment of His promise in Jeremiah 31:33: "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people.” All the Christian ‘high days’ we celebrate and remember throughout the year are wonderful, unique and special, however I would encourage us not to let Pentecost slip by unnoticed. For some, the Holy Spirit is kind of like “the forgotten God,” as Francis Chan expressed it. We talk much of “God” and “Jesus,” but the Holy Spirit gets less attention. Maybe it’s because we don’t understand Him. Maybe we are afraid of “getting all Charismatic or Pentecostal.” Whatever the case, Pentecost is worth celebrating if, for no other reason, we celebrate the Holy Spirit. So as we come into this season, let us be reminded that Pentecost is so much more than a day in history, it is a fulfillment, a movement, a promise, an outpouring and a continuation to this day of the Holy Spirit’s power to his work in our lives individually and corporately.
Chris,
Chris Jones is part of our Gateway senior leadership team
