After all of the intensity and solemnity of the long Lenten
season, the whirlwind of Holy Week, and the celebratory festivities of Easter,
I was happy to have these last several weeks of regular living. There are 50 days between Easter and
Pentecost, a mixture of the ordinary and the extraordinary.
I’ve wondered what Jesus
did with His disciples and followers for those weeks after His resurrection –
we don’t get a lot of detail from that time.
We know a few extraordinary things that happened – including His
Ascension! – but perhaps many of the days were filled with the regular things
of life.
For the Israelites in the Old Testament, these weeks were
sandwiched between two major holy days, one that commemorated the beginning of
the grain harvest, which took place during Passover, and one that celebrated
the end of it, which was Pentecost. (See this article for more detail)
When Jesus came, he brought a whole new dimension – THE dimension
– to those holy days. He offered up
Himself as the Firstfruits, the Passover Lamb, and the final sacrifice during
the first set of Holy Days, and then sent His Spirit to start the first true
church during the second.
Traditionally, it is believed that the Ten Commandments were
given on Mt. Sinai on the day of Pentecost. What amazing symmetry that presents: On the same day of the year that the Law was
given, which could not save, the Spirit of the Risen Christ was given, who
totally does!
We now celebrate Pentecost as the day of the giving of the
Holy Spirit to believers, and therefore the birthday of the Church. So it’s a big deal - -and worthy of a big celebration! As Peter J. Leithart reminds us,
we should be a noisy and joyous group when we have the Spirit living in us!
As we’ve mentioned before, we love the fact that Christians
have more reasons to celebrate, and we love to do this as much as we can!
So here is another day to make a
cake, put up some balloons, open the Scriptures and remind yourselves and your
children about the crazy and wonderful things that happened years ago.
Here are some suggestions:
- Read the account of giving of the Spirit in Acts 2. Other passages to read/think about are Galatians 5:22-26, and 1 Corinthians 12. Praise the Advocate, the Spirit!
- Talk about how the events in Acts 2 contrast with what happened at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11.
- Decorate the table with red petals.
- Serve fruit salad and talk about the fruit of the Spirit. (Gal 5:22-23)
- Bake a birthday cake and sing “Happy Birthday” to the Church! Light candles and talk about the flames of fire that were above the disciples’ heads.
- Make cupcakes with strawberries as tongues of fire.
One last note: The
Western church and the Eastern church (Orthodox) often do not have coinciding
holidays. I never knew this until we spent
some time in Eastern Europe and realized we got to celebrate each of the
holidays for 2 weeks in a row (which was pretty cool!). But this year, 2014, the holidays DO line up,
so all Christians everywhere will be observing Pentecost tomorrow. Happy birthday to the WHOLE church!
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