While we are waiting
an immersive perspective on Pentecost
Come with me through the hot, dusty streets of Jerusalem. It’s fifty days after Passover and preparations are in place for celebrating Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks.
A cheerful chorus of birds, stretching their tiny lungs with joyous songs, fills the air. There’s a bustling throng in the crowded marketplace as citizens and travellers scour for the provisions they need while tired children whimper and cats snake around their feet.
A motley crew are gathered together in a room that is dear and familiar to them. A place where they caught a fragrance of heaven while listening to profound teaching, drinking wine, and breaking bread.
It’s a place they’ve already been meeting in for weeks and haven’t wanted to vacate. A room where expectation hangs heavy like the suffocating midday heat, and joy feels like a distant memory.
Let’s take a peek.
Then…
We’re gathered together in the upper room for the feast of Pentecost, like bewildered sheep who have lost their shepherd, cut adrift, left to their own devices.
An air of uncertainty hangs over us. A frisson of anxiety haunts our days and nights, disrupts our sleep. We try to stay focused on the positive yet questions still disturb us.
What will happen next? Are we safe? Will the authorities come after us?
Jesus has ascended to heaven, left us feeling bereft even though he promised us his Peace, the gift of the Holy Spirit, which we are waiting for, and that he would never leave us.
We’re unsure what that might mean but we seek to rest in his reassurance and promises. Meanwhile, we take comfort from one another as we reminisce about the good old days when he was still with us, and the great miracles we witnessed.
Tears and laughter mingle as we share our stories. It feels good to look back because looking forward seems so much scarier. The future path remains unknown to us. How will we face the coming challenges?
Mary, the mother of Jesus, accompanies us. We are drawn to her like moths to a flame, the way hungry souls seek sustenance. Our insecure souls find solace in her faith-filled fountain of love.
Mary’s body was his home. Her arms held and comforted him as an infant. Her eyes admired and watched him grow from child to man, and a sword pierced her heart when he bled and died on the cross.
She knew Jesus far better than we did and spent years pondering the way his path was shaped. We encourage her to relate her own experiences and memories, which she does with a warm smile playing on her lips and a teary glint in her eyes.
Mary’s faith and calming wisdom have been invaluable during this hard season of waiting, acting as an anchor for me. She wears patience serenely, as if it were her daily dress, whereas I’m restless and impetuous.
We prop one another up because we’ve already lost Judas, who betrayed Jesus and couldn’t cope with the pain of it. Since then we’ve appointed Matthias in his place to be one of the witnesses of our beloved Master, Teacher and Friend.
As I lean back, rub my beard, muse into my drink, already thinking about what we might have to eat for our next meal, there’s a sudden rushing noise outside. A strong wind or a violent storm seems to be developing.
But wait a minute… it’s in the room, the whole house we are in! How can it be? And oh my goodness, the place is on fire. It must have been struck by lightning!
However, as I anxiously search for the exit and check on those present, I realise these tongue-like flames are not burning anything. Instead, they settle over our heads like a benediction kiss.
Then I sense them enter within. It’s a gentle invasion pressing against my throat, my lungs, my soul. A warm glow develops inside and an unexpected, euphoric joy rises in my heart and mind.
Our tongues loosen themselves into strange languages we are unfamiliar with, but they appear to be understood by those listening outside who are drawn by the sounds, the rushing wind, the gasps, the strong babbling.
Some are awed and amazed to hear us simple Galilean fishermen speaking their own native tongue, while others are convinced we’ve become drunk, though it’s only 9 o’clock in the morning!
We’re awestruck by these events. Stunned by the sacred surprise. Shaken as I am, I somehow discover I have the courage, wisdom and words to address the gathering crowd and explain what is happening.
As I speak, passages from Scripture automatically flow out of me, resounding with a deeper understanding than ever before. They come alive in a whole new way. They’re being fulfilled. Here. Now. Oh how my heart sings!
With the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we’re no longer weary, slumping soldiers trying to hold one another up. Now we’re on fire, fully equipped to live, witness, even die for our Saviour and Lord.
“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” — Acts 2:1-4 RSVCE
Now… Like tongues of fire You came like licking tongues of fire, alighting lightly, mimicking a devastating forest inferno that clears the undergrowth, sweeps through with great power and might, makes way for new plants to grow. You swept into a room, into tongues, minds and hearts, filling them with power as you cleared out the cobwebs of fear and uncertainty, made way for the new, the brave, the strong, the hope-filled and free. Oh Holy Spirit, how we need you now to return in power, fire up the fading embers of our hearts, refuel us inside with holy hope and joy, increase our love for man and God provide your wisdom and insight.
Although the Day of Pentecost was a one-off, unrepeatable experience, the presence and power of the Holy Spirit is eternal. It remains undimmed as he works in the world and within us.
“These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
— John 14:25-27 RSVCE
As the calmer of our hearts, the Holy Spirit enlivens our souls with the hope of eternal promises. and develops holy fruit in us that impact our life, our walk, our testimony and talk.
Come Holy Spirit Prayer
Come Holy Spirit, come sweep
us clean of all that soils
this dwelling place. Come unearth
our earthly dust and create
in us a purer heart, a greater
willingness to do our part.
Come whisper solace and wisdom
within. Come grant us your instruction.
Come plant the fruit only you can
provide. Come heal the deepest wounds
which have festered and bled inside.
Forgive us for so often ignoring
you. Forgive us for neglecting
to call upon you. Come fill and
flood our spirits, these sacred places,
to overflowing, that others may see
and sense your living presence in us.
Holy Spirit, come to us again
as a mighty, rushing wind
and as the gentlest, kindest,
most compassionate Friend.
Bring solace and healing
to our souls and hearts, as you
develop the fruit that provides
evidence of a life of faith and love.
A room. A gathering of souls ready to receive. A holy anointing that stirs, strengthens, energises, revives. An exceptional moment in time. One we honour today as we also remember our own baptism of fire and faith. Our own eye-opening experiences, filled with increasing wonder as we grow to know and love Jesus ourselves.
You can read the full Pentecost event here
Pentecost dove images by Geralt (Gerd Altmann) @pixabay.com
Something so vivid in the way you make that upper room feel like a held breath between loss and promise. It reads like an invitation to every tired believer who feels stuck in the waiting room of their own life to remember that the same Spirit who met them there is still the one who can quietly set tired hearts on fire again.