Sunday, May 28, 2023

The Day of Pentecost

The Revised Common Lectionary passages for the Lord’s Day are:
– First Reading: Acts 2:1-21 or alternate First Reading: Numbers 11:24-30
– Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
– Second Reading: I Corinthians 12:3b-13 or alternate Second Reading: Acts 2:1-21
– Gospel Reading: John 20:19-23 or alternate Gospel: John 7:27-39

The liturgical color for the day is: Red

Pentecost is full of action, Spirit-breath wind, and audible resonance with the God who continues to move among us. 

It is what God does in our lives.  A new song.  A new way.  A new view.  A new opportunity.  A new challenge.  New.  Such is the essence of the poured-out Spirit.  What if we welcomed that new thing God is doing among us rather than clung to the old way?  What if we did that in the church—what if we allowed the breeze of the Holy Spirit to blow us into a new way?  New view?  New opportunity?  New challenge?

I do not want us to lose track of how we were able to innovate during the pandemic.  Every congregation, and every person too, made huge changes in how we did our work and made our way.  It was as if we were all speaking a new language.  That “tongue” of agility was a sign of God’s movement among us.  How are we being called to express that language of agility and newness now?  What challenge is before us that we can welcome over being in denial or seeing it as a threat?  Opportunities for speaking the language of God’s possibilities abound! 

Oh, Pentecost…it has arrived, and we are living it!

God has more in store for us than we know.  The Holy Spirit has been poured out.  We need to catch the wind and allow the Holy Spirit to blow us into a new way. 

—

Rev. Dr. Daris Bultena
General Presbyter and Stated Clerk