Take a second and think back to when you were a kid. Think of the moments when you felt most free – when there was nothing you had to do. No meetings, no appointments, no homework, no expectations other than being totally free to just be. I’m thinking of summer afternoons that were not too hot but just right for a day of the best game ever – make believe.
I can remember yelling to my cousin or friends those gloriously freeing words “let’s pretend that…” Can you remember having an imagination that would dream of impossible situations or breathtaking scenes? Can you remember riding a bike with cards in the spokes, or playing hide and seek in your church (oh wait, I never did that either – wink wink).
This sunday the church celebrates a story that is just beyond brilliant. It’s a story with tradition and history. It’s a story that has intrigue and shocking behavior. It’s a story that promises something that transcends time and it’s a story that invites us, today, into something that feels more like “pretend” than reality. The story is Pentecost.
There is SO much happening on that first Christian Pentecost. Notice I said, Christian Pentecost – the Hebrew people had been celebrating this feast for thousands of years by the time that wind blew the disciples out of the upper room. It was a celebration of God’s gift to the Hebrews and the whole world- the gift of what is often called the Law. We, sadly, refer to this moment as the giving of the 10 Commandments, but this moment is so much more than 10 phrases we are bound up by. It was a reentry into what it meant to be human – to be fully God’s people – the bare minimum that people in God’s image start with.
On that first Hebrew Pentecost, fire fell and a wind blew and the mountain shakes. It was like God was dropping as much mind-blowing power as possible on the Hebrew people to give them just a glimpse of God’s AWESOMENESS. God’s glory enveloped this mountain and the people were rocked to their very souls. God speaks and the people are invited into a covenant that would change the world.
Fast forward a few thousand years – the disciples of Jesus are waiting, as Jesus had instructed. They’re preparing for God to release them, but they are also preparing to celebrate their own hebrew tradition. As they’re praying, it happens – a MIGHTY wind blows through the closed off room, fire falls in power on the people, miraculous languages are shared so that everyone is hearing the GOOD NEWS of Jesus. The Spirit is poured out on all flesh. The moment all creation had been waiting for – God was bringing life through the power of the Spirit to all humanity. As the Spirit falls, the disciples are transformed into a body, the church. The bride of Christ is released to the world to share and witness to God’s work.
It seems obvious to me that God could have done this any way possible. Jesus could have spoken a word over them. They could have been baptized in water. They could have been given a book or blog post to inspire them. But instead, God gave them this creative explosion. God gave the people the something they had only dreamed of – something not even their childlike imagination could have dreamed up. He invited them to join in the creative energy of the Godhead.
Think about that, you and I are vessels of the very creative power that spoke creation itself, with all its intricacies and beauty, into existence. The same problem solving power that saw humanity broken and detached but stepped in and chose death on a cross and resurrection now lives in you and I! This may sound flippant, but it’s like God is saying to followers of Jesus, I’m giving you the creative power to bring my glory to every aspect of your life. I wonder if Pentecost, then, should be a reminder that we get the great privilege of living a life of “let’s pretend”?
I hope and pray that wherever you find yourself this weekend, you’ll take a minute to let the creative power of God’s Spirit invite you to pretend. No matter what is going on in our lives, may we find our imaginations swept away in the sheer, mind-blowing awesomeness of God’s Glory, and may we be swept out of an upper room, or church sanctuary, and share that Good News in new and life giving ways!
Grace and Peace –
Jim