Pentecost Sunday - What Does It Mean for Us?

Pentecost (Sunday, May 23rd) is the final day of the Easter season (the Great Fifty Days.) It's the 50th day from Easter Sunday in which the church is called to celebrate the good news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is good news for a number of reasons:

1) It's the launching of the long awaited biblical hope of new creation so that the resurrection of Jesus is the foretaste of that time in the future when death and sin will be swallowed up forever. 2) It's the vindication of Jesus showing the rulers of the world who the true ruler of the world is. 3) It's the confirmation that through faith in Christ, one day, we too, will be given new bodies that will not subject to sickness or death. 4) It's the announcement that Christ's followers are called to live out the new creation project in the here and now. Which leads us to the significance of Pentecost Sunday:

.

Pentecost Sunday is the day when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples empowering them to live out their resurrection faith by establishing God's rule for the world through acts of compassion and justice. Jesus, who ascended to his rightful rule in heaven on the fortieth day after his resurrection and who promises to reappear in the future when God will renew all of creation, enables us to live out God's kingdom rule in the present through the giving of the Holy Spirit.

For me, the key point about Pentecost Sunday is that it reminds us that we are not alone in building God's kingdom in our present day. The Holy Spirit empowers, indwells, equips, prods, and comforts us to live out our faith with courage and boldness until that time in the future when Jesus will reappear. God will take all that we have done through the power of the Holy Spirit and through a special act of his grace, will renew all of creation and there will be no more mourning, injustice, sin, or death. Heaven and earth will be joined together once and for all.

Pentecost Sunday Collect (Prayer)

O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.