Heart to Heart
May has four significant celebrations embedded in it this year. If you have Mexican roots, then you’re already anticipating Cinco de Mayo (May 5th) when the Mexican people remember a historic victory over a French army, with parades, folk music and dancing. On the 12th, our country will celebrate all those who are moms and grandmothers, for their priceless investment in our families. While there is great joy associated with Mother’s Day, it can also a very painful day for those who’ve suffered at the hands of their mothers. Others who longed to become moms, but couldn’t, wrestle with their lost dream. Mother’s Day is a mixed bag of conflicted emotions in the midst of bouquets & the flowery words.
On May 27th, America will remember her men and women who’ve paid the ultimate price to protect our freedoms. Memorial Day weekend will be filled with festivities, picnics and BBQs, along with ceremonies honoring those who sacrificed their lives to defend our rights, preserving the pledge to provide liberty and justice for all.
But tucked in the middle of May (the 19th to be exact), is a day that only appears on church calendars. Pentecost Sunday marks 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave. According to Acts 1, during the first forty days, the Risen Christ appeared to His disciples at different times and places, offering them convincing proof that He had indeed risen from the dead.
Ten days before Pentecost, Jesus gave His followers some final instructions, urging them to wait for power from God to be poured out upon them Then He ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9). For days, they cried out to God, “asking, seeking and knocking” through persistent prayer, for God to do all He had promised. On Pentecost (the Jewish harvest festival), the Holy Spirit was suddenly poured out upon the disciples. The manifest presence of God was experienced as Jesus’ Church came to life.
The church does a great job remembering the Risen Christ at Easter, but we often fail to recognize the importance of Christ’s ascension. Jesus had to go, so that the Holy Spirit could come (John 16:7). It is only through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, that our Gospel witness becomes effective. We need the power of the Spirit, to finish the Great Commission.
As we anticipate Pentecost Sunday, may we pray earnestly for a further infilling of the Spirit, to empower us to do our part in taking Jesus to a lost and dying world.
Pastor Adriaan & Diana <><