Pentecost Sunday

Pentecost Sunday is often called the birthday of the Church.

Luke writes in The Acts of the Apostles that the apostles were gathered together when a noise like a strong driving wind filled the place where they were. Tongues of fire appeared to them and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They burst forth onto the streets, which were dense with pilgrims to Jerusalem since it was a Jewish holy day.

We are told that all could understand the apostles in their own language as they proclaimed the message of Jesus of Nazareth. It is a message still proclaimed.

Christians understand the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in many ways. Some focus on the gifts of tongues and of healing.

Others turn to Isaiah 11:1-2, which speaks of gifts of wisdom and understanding, counsel and strength, knowledge and fear of the Lord. The spirit is seen as the guiding hand in the writings of the Bible. In short, Jesus promised his followers that the Holy Spirit would be with them always. They would not be alone.

It would be enlightening to bring together a group of people and ask them when they have believed the spirit of God to be with them in exceptional ways.

It could be a time when we have found words we did not know we had for a friend or someone struggling. It could be when we took a road untraveled out of pure faith. Or a decision to speak out against an injustice.

The apostles were enlivened and infused with courage on Pentecost. That same energy and courage on behalf of God’s daughters and sons is ours as well — if we put our trust in the giver.