This week in Kidz Harbour, I was telling everyone about Pentecost Sunday! About how, kinda like Christmas and Easter, there’s another really important day that we get to celebrate… an important day we need to remember!
We talked about how strange it was that Jesus said he would be with his friends F O R E V E R and then he disappeared into the clouds! But of course, that’s not where the story ended. Because Jesus had also told his disciples that he was going to send them a helper and a comforter (…different than a big poofy blanket…) to be there with them.
All they needed to do was wait.
I can’t help but resonate a little more with this story than I ever did before. Of course we’re not fearing for our lives in the same way they would have been… but the similarities between our world now and the disciples back then line up in an almost eerie way. They were cooped up at home in a little room altogether. Staying inside and waiting. Day after day; uncertain and anxious about what they would do next. All of their plans laid to waste.
Jesus was gone and this time probably felt much more permanent. They didn’t know how long they needed to wait but they knew they were waiting for Jesus to do what he had said he would… I wonder if they were expecting him to suddenly appear in the room with them again, just like he had before!
Regardless, all they could do was wait.
This is how The Jesus Storybook Bible tells the account of the Holy Spirit’s grand entrance…
Suddenly, a strong wind filled the little room, whistling through the walls, rustling the straw on the floor. And there – on everyone’s heads, shining in the gloom – were flickering flames. Fire that didn’t hurt or burn.
And something more: inside, in their hearts, they felt a strange heat, almost as if all the coldness and hardness were melting away. As if their broken hearts were mending. And God was giving them brand new hearts – hearts that could work properly.
How it happened they didn’t know, but they knew God’s power had struck their hearts ablaze – and Jesus himself was coming to live inside them.
They had seen Jesus go away, but now he was closer than he had ever been – inside their hearts. And this time nothing could ever separate them. Jesus would always be there. With them. Loving them. Whispering the promise that would get rid of the poison and terrible lie and the sickness in their hearts. God’s wonderful promise to them: “You are my child. And I love you.”
One of the girls asked a really great question at the end of Kidz Harbour. She asked me, “How do we celebrate Pentecost? What do we do to remember? HOW do we CELEBRATE?!”
I hadn’t really thought of it as a celebration-celebration until she had asked the question but I think she might be onto something! I answered that people could celebrate in all sorts of different ways and that maybe we could all light some candles to remind us about the flames that appeared over the disciples’ heads! Or maybe we could dance a dance or sing a song to give thanks to God for sending us his Spirit…
Truth be told, I’m not so sure I’ve ever celebrated Pentecost. I’ve paused and reflected, but maybe what we need this year is a little bit of a celebration!
Yes, our circumstances require us to stay home and to continue waiting. But this weekend especially, maybe our waiting will look a little different. Maybe this weekend as we remember Pentecost we will remember in a new way that we do not wait alone. We are not useless as we wait… even when we have no answers.
Way back in the book of Joel, God promised that he would pour out his Spirit!
“I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” (Joel 2:28-29)
What could be a better reason to celebrate than that?!
Jesus, thank you for sending us Your Spirit!!
Thank you for loving us so much that you decided to dwell with us and to make your home within us… it’s a concept too lofty for us to comprehend and too vital for us to ignore.
Holy Spirit, we ask that you fall on us afresh; that you would renew in us a spirit of celebration and thanksgiving for all you are and all you have done for us, in us and through us!
We give you permission to melt away the hardness and to bring healing to our broken hearts.
Thank you for being true to your word and for never leaving us, God.
Amen