Pentecost, fifty days after Easter, is the day we celebrate the Holy Spirit descending on the disciples sounding something like a mighty wind and looking something like tongues of fire. The Spirit inspired Peter’s first proclamation of Jesus’ resurrection, and even more astonishing, everyone gathered in Jerusalem could hear the message in their own language.
This is the beginning of the disciples’ mission and ministry into the world. The rest of Acts couldn’t happen without Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Spirit.
So, Pentecost is meant to be a grand celebration!
We celebrate Pentecost as a memory of something God once did. Because it was on Pentecost that the Spirit transformed a ragtag bunch of followers into bold and courageous witnesses to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Disciples who would ultimately travel to the ends of the earth with that news.
The celebration of Pentecost reminds us that the Spirit once called those disciples to move, to change, to become the people God was calling them to become. The Spirit called the disciples forward into the new thing God was doing and empowered them to be part of it.
But the thing is, we celebrate Pentecost not just as a memory, but as an invitation. Pentecost is a chance to look back and see how the Spirit has been at work, and it is an invitation to look forward and imagine how the Spirit continues to call us.
Because one thing is certain, the Spirit still calls us to move, it calls us to change, it calls us to become more like Christ.
Pentecost is still an invitation to look ahead and move into the new thing that God is doing. And the Spirit still empowers us be part of God’s work in the world.
When the Spirit shows up, there is no possibility of staying the same.