The midway point of the Church Calendar is marked with the holy day of Pentecost. On this day, Christians that honor liturgical traditions celebrate the receiving of the Holy Spirit.
The most common story told on this day comes from the gospel writer Luke’s sequel: The Acts of the Apostles. The gospel text attributed to John also has a Holy Spirit story that seems to come before Luke’s in the timeline. (Acts 1-2, John 20:19-23)
The concept of the Holy Spirit—as a way to understand a multifaceted God—is peppered throughout the scriptures. Luke takes the concept a major step further. In his gospel narrative, the Holy Spirit is the main driving force, and in Acts the fullness of the Spirit is revealed gloriously on Pentecost. It can be enlightening to follow up any reading of Luke’s gospel immediately with Acts, to see how it all fits together.
Now, the presence and power of the Holy Spirit we celebrate on Pentecost is never meant to be held to ourselves, nor to fan our own flame of human glory. The Spirit comes to empower and encourage us to do the will of God in our world today. It also comes to challenge us and critique us, redirecting and course-correcting our path forward.
For those in the Northern Hemisphere, Pentecost is quite a fitting festival day for spring. When the world comes alive and everything feels unstoppable—spring fever in full bloom—here comes the Holy Spirt! A gust of fresh air and an uncontrollable fire, eagerly wanting to work through us to make a new world for God’s glory.
And so, Pentecost naturally becomes the hinge of the Church Year, sitting right between the festival half of the year and the subsequent long stretch of Ordinary Time. It separates out the time we have spent intimately with Jesus during the first half of the year and the time ahead when we are called to act on what we have heard from Jesus.
With both the celebration of Jesus’ ascension the week prior and this very festive day of Pentecost we are at the pinnacle of the liturgical mountain. From here, we see where the gospel stories of Jesus have led us thus far and where we are being called to go hereafter. The Holy Spirit meets us on this proverbial mountain and urges us onward, calling on us to now utilize the lessons we have learned from the first half of the Church Year.
It is easy and tempting to want to stay in festival-mode, but alas we cannot. Jesus has taught us that God is incredibly passionate about connecting with humanity. We must now connect with humanity through relevant faithful actions, as our Lord Jesus has taught us to. So, we happily leave the festival season behind to do the work of Jesus Christ today. Accompanied by the greatest companion our Lord Jesus has left us with—the Holy Spirit.
Relevant Reformation 