P E N T E C O S T by Pastor Emeritus Karen Geisendorfer-Lindgren (karengl@lordoflife.org)
May 23, 2021, is a special day for a couple of reasons. First, it’s special to my husband Peter and me because we are celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary on that day. And, it is special to all Christians, because this year May 23 is Pentecost. Pentecost is the day when we celebrate the anniversary of the Christian church.
Bible 101
The details of our wedding day are fun to share with our kids (like when the tornado sirens went off a half hour before the ceremony), but the details of that Pentecost when the Holy Spirit established the Christian church is one of the most miraculous and amazing events in all of time. You can read all about this exciting occasion in the first couple of chapters of the book of Acts in the New Testament. Here’s what happened: On the 50th day after Passover, there was a huge celebration in Jerusalem. People had come from all over the known world to participate in Pentecost (pente —from Greek—meaning fifty), a Jewish festival which included giving thanks for the wheat harvest. The disciples were all gathered together, there in Jerusalem, waiting for the fulfillment of the 4
promise that Jesus had made to them before his ascension. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would come to them in Jerusalem. They didn’t know how God’s Spirit was going to come to them, but they trusted that it would be so. And so they stayed all together and waited. And indeed, the promise that Jesus made to them was fulfilled. At about 9 in the morning, with the city bustling with thousands of foreign visitors, the Holy Spirit came. Acts 2:2-4 describes it this way: “Suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” Each one began speaking in a different language—telling of the mighty acts of God— so that each of the foreigners gathered there in Jerusalem could hear the message of the Gospel in their own native language. What a miracle. The Holy Spirit not only came and gave the disciples the words they needed to be witnesses—but gave them in such a way that each one who heard the message could
