Our meditation to start this week is from Acts 2:5-8, the second reading for Pentecost.
[5] Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. [6] And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. [7] And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? [8] And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?
This week we’re gearing up for Pentecost! In so many of our churches, Pentecost is a treated like a minor festival. It could be so much more. It could be similar to Christmas Eve or Easter.
Originally, Pentecost was a Jewish harvest festival. Great throngs of people traveled to Jerusalem for Pentecost. Right after Jesus ascended into heaven, God did great miracles on Pentecost. Those miracles supported the apostle Peter’s sermon about the Christ on that day. God used the sermon to move some 3,000 to faith in Jesus, so they were baptized. Just as importantly, some of these people shared the faith as they traveled home from Jerusalem.
Christians learning about Pentecost is like Americans learning about the First Continental Congress in 1774. As Americans, we are a direct result of what happened in that first American governing body. It is our heritage. As Christians, we are a direct result of what God did on that first Christian Pentecost. The mission work that the Lord launched in Jerusalem on Pentecost spread to Asia, then Europe, then North America.
With this is mind, we can enter the sanctuary this Sunday with a sense of awe and anticipation. It’s Pentecost!
Kevin Wilson 360 