Pentecost

It’s hard not to read the story of Pentecost in 2021 and see the parallels to what the last year of our lives has looked like. The apostles and disciples are stuck indoors, waiting in fear of what awaits them outside. They’ve experienced a tragedy. The great change they lived for, spoke up for, (marched for), all gone like a puff of smoke. The revolution was over, so it seems. And then suddenly, like a violent wind the presence of God blows open the doors and brings new hope, new opportunity to these revolutionaries.

Today, the Church is very much waiting for its day of Pentecost. In so many ways we are stuck, feeling hopeless, and stagnant. In America the global pandemic has sped up what was already happening. Those who remained active in Churches only because of social obligation or pressure have walked away. Those who have been let down time and time again by our institutions have decided to leave them.

What does this mean for the movement of Jesus? It means it will reshape itself. It means that God will show up in our presence like a disrupting violent wind and breathe new inspiration into Her people. It means that those who were once not welcome, not given space or platform will lead us. It means that to those who expect to see stiff piety will witness singing, dancing, and hollering, as if we were drunken, as we cry out for liberation for all of God’s creation.

Our day of Pentecost will, and in many ways already has, come friends. What this story reminds us year after year is that God is not finished speaking. Come, Holy Spirit, Come.