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PENTECOST Pentecost (which means fiftieth) is the fiftieth and last day of the Easter Season, when the Church received the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). Pentecost is the festival that marks the birth of the Christian church. Ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, the apostles and other "Christians" gathered in a room to celebrate a Jewish Holiday that occurred 50 days after Passover. They were about 70 in number. Without any warning or invitation, the Holy Spirit descended like tongues of fire resting on each person's head. And people spoke in unusual ways, and heard in unusual ways. The disciples were empowered to proclaim the gospel of the risen Christ. They went out into the streets of Jerusalem and began preaching to the crowds gathered for the festival. One of the most well known and beloved sermons recorded in the New Testament is the sermon preached to the crowd by Peter. The result was that about three thousand converts were baptized that day. It is a most appropriate day for baptisms, confirmations, and congregational reaffirmation of the Baptismal Covenant."1 ___________________________________________________________________________ 1. The United Methodist Book of Worship, The United Methodist Publishing House, Nashville, TN 37202, 1995. (Single time use by permission as lesson resource, all rights reserved by the United Methodist Publishing House under the 1976 Copyright Act. Requests for permission on use of material controlled by The United Methodist Publishing House, Permissions Office, Abingdon Press, P.O. Box 801, 201 Eight Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37202.) |