The road to Pentecost
Today we embark on the happy journey on the road from Easter to Pentecost.
With the light of Easter showing us the proper way, we anticipate the coming of God, the Holy Spirit.
The experience of the Holy Spirit is so intimate and happy, yet is smothered by uncertainty.
The word‘spirit’is regrettable, suggesting, as it does, something vague and spooky.
The word ’holy’is equally unfortunate.
Most people do not consider themselves‘holy’.
The account of the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 is foreign to the modern mind.
The meaning of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit is so simple.
God was in the Cross and that is the Godly significance of the crucifixion.
God was in the Emptied Tomb and that is the Godly significance of the resurrection.
So God is in Pentecost and that is the Godly meaning of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the coming and presence of God, the‘Divine Presence’(PaulTillich).
The simplest illustration is the experience of two loving people,
In sharing, they find their own true life in another person. They will find their value in that other person’s estimation. Their successes will be shared as will their failures and reverses.
They can be open with each other, confiding intimate secrets with neither embarrassment nor reticence.
Such a relationship of mutual acceptance carries neither judgment nor blame.
How much more then sharing our life with God.
That is the significance of Pentecost.
We share our life with God and we are open to God.
Psalm 139 is the best example of this openness.‘O, Lord, You hast searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and rise up You know what I will say before I speak’(Psalm 139.1-6).
The psalmist feels totally at ease and is quite happy to be embraced in God’s presence.
That is what God accomplished in Jesus at Easter.
Remember the wonderful hymn,‘Just as I am, thy love unknown, Has broken every barrier down. Now to be thine, yea, thine alone. O Lamb of God, I come’.
In Jesus, God has broken every barrier down.
Easter makes Pentecost possible. Pentecost fulfils Easter.
But there is something even deeper.
Just as we share our life with God, God shares his life with us.
This may sound simplistic, but it is simply true.
Our Father God is open with us and trusts us. God feels for us and with us.
God guides us with his understanding through these perplexing days.
God is happy with our joy-filled family gatherings.
God’s compassion comforts us in times of loss.
God rejoices with us when we rejoice and weeps with us when we weep.
God shares his wholesome thoughts so that we can think wisely and kindly.
God enables us to see situations from his point of view.
Then we are able to go the second mile and turn the other cheek.
Then we are able to be‘The salt of the earth and the light to the world’.
Then people will see our type of religious life and themselves turn to God (Matthew 5.13-16).
All this happens because of Easter.
In Jesus’Cross and Emptied Tomb, our Father God enables us to enjoy proper fellowship with God.
We can confidently welcome our
Father God into our heart and soul.
We can be assured that God receives us as his beloved children.
In Jesus, his Son, God has opened the way for us to live with God.
At Pentecost, that is precisely what happened.
God’s presence in the Spirit brings us peace with God.
God’s presence settles every anxiety and calms every fear.
God’s presence is our divine assurance that all is well with our soul.
The heart of God in Easter’s Cross and Resurrection now beats in your soul as eternal love.
‘The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, will teach you all things. And help you to remember all that I have said to you’(John 14.26).
A little prayer – Gentle Father God. In Jesus, you opened our way of life. Dwell in our heart and soul in the Spirit and lead us that eternal way.
Through Jesus, our Way, our Truth and our Life. Amen.