Nothing wrong with wearing red on Pentecost.
But if no one
-gets filled with the Spirit
-speaks in tongues
-accuses your members of being drunk at 9am in the morning
-gets converted (there were 3k on Pentecost)
…then we need Linus to get up on stage and read us the Bible story (which he does so well for Christmas) to remind us of what Pentecost is really all about.
As with much of the high-octane faith in the Bible, we have de-natured it for “polite” church use. Instead of calling down fire from heaven, we wear red sport shirts.
Veni Sancte Spiritus
8 comments
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May 21, 2010 at 7:12 am
Jay Egenes
AMEN!
May 21, 2010 at 7:14 am
Diane Roth
amen indeed!
I’m all for church becoming less “well-mannered”
May 21, 2010 at 2:57 pm
Wayne Almlie
This is all fine and dandy, but if it doesn’t bring a whole heaping bunch of repentance we still have nothing.
John 16:8-9
8 And when He (The Holy Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin , and of righteousness, and of judgment:
NKJV
Peace
Wayne
May 21, 2010 at 3:16 pm
Lindsey Trego
You are so right on! If Lauren weren’t getting confirmed Sunday morning, y0ou would see me at church!
May 21, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Randy Wawrzyniak-Fry
I just got a mental image of Linus receiting Acts 2, much the same way as he recited Luke 2 in that memorable way. Very cool.
May 22, 2010 at 6:10 am
Tim
The Spirit’s coming is not self-generated
It is not institutionally or anti-institutionally generated
So we can wait
We can pray
Yet Pentecost will happen at the Spirit’s timing
Conversion happens by the Spirit’s timing
After a deep trauma (Good Friday)
After a deep trauma (Easter Sunday)
After much confusion (resurrection appearances)
After Christ becoming King (Ascension)
After a slump where nothing happens (10 days)
Boom!
Right now I’m more in the Good Friday, Holy Saturday time frame
Please don’t beat me up for being there
I reside among a people who might be in that zone
Please don’t judge me
I’m waiting and praying and looking
May 24, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Kathy McDougall
Who are we to judge you, Tim, when we have all been in the place where you are?
But no matter where I am nowadays I find that God is there too. Pentecost to me is not a feeling or a circumstance but the overflowing of God’s spirit inside of his creation (me). Sometimes it is a fire and sometimes it is a warm blanket.
In the original Pentecost God gave the Disciples the courage they needed to get the job done. In the same way God can pour his spirit into you to give you what you need.
The question is, what is it you need to do what God is asking you to do?
May 24, 2010 at 10:00 am
Dwaine
My reading of Acts 2: When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
After 50 days . . . who was “they”? Why were they “all together in one place?” It must not have been the “God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven” since they showed up later wondering what happened.
I’m thinking all of us who have the faith as Christ-followers, have had their own day when we were (v 4) filled with the Holy Spirit. It’s fine for religious bodies to claim a day to wear red. That may be helpful for some.
The Holy Spirit has come to many gathered together in recent times. It seldom seems to be in houses of worship, but rather in rallies such as Billy Graham or Promise Keepers, etc. So. . . who were they, and why were they all together?