Pentecost Sunday – Led by the Spirit

Today is Pentecost Sunday, which arguably marks the beginning of the Church when the Holy Spirit fell on the people in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. So, what is Pentecost? I have sat through too many talks involving chiffon scarves and hairdryers over the years to try and demonstrate Pentecost. But what is or was the Day of Pentecost and why were all these people there when the Holy Spirit came?

Well, it all has to do with harvest. Now, unlike our churches today who celebrate a single harvest for everything on one day usually in early autumn. Different countries celebrate at different times of the year – so, in Uganda I have been to harvest Festival in February, towards the end of the dry season. First century Palestine had several harvest festivals for different crops, and they were timed between each other. The first of these harvests was the barley harvest known as first fruits harvest and took place on the Sabbath following Passover at the very point Jesus rose from the dead that first Easter which led Paul to write to the Corinthians of Christ’s resurrection as being the first fruits for those who had fallen asleep. But Pentecost was the wheat harvest which took place 50 days after the first fruits harvest – hence Pentecost and was the wheat harvest or festival of weeks as it came 7 weeks after the first fruits harvest. People would gather for harvest celebrations and it is therefore quite appropriate that the Holy Spirit came on the people gathered for Pentecost celebrations.

From the very outset when Jesus called his first disciples, harvest featured when Jesus called his first disciples the fishermen brothers Simon and Andrew saying, “follow me and I will make you fishers of men,” harvesting souls for the kingdom of God. Not all of us are fishermen but led by the Holy Spirit if we follow Jesus, he will make us for his kingdom and his glory – follow me and I will make you. This is the essence of Pentecost being made in God’s image and for His glory and being made to be led by that same Holy Spirit. Time after time in the Acts of the Apostles we read of Apostles being led by the Spirit. Look 6 chapters on in Acts from the reading we had today and we see Philip being led by the Spirit to an encounter with an Ethiopian official on the desert road back home and his conversion and baptism, Two weeks ago we saw Paul and Silas in chapter 16, led by the Holy Spirit out of Asia into Europe, to Philippi where people were converted and baptised.

Pentecost works because the Holy Spirit leads us and we respond to that leading. But how do we respond? By going out in the power of the Holy Spirit and leading to help bring in the harvest? Or do we respond negatively by suggesting that these Spirit filled Christians at 9.00 0’clock in the morning were all drunk and just needed to sleep it off and maybe they would be ok again by lunchtime? Or, to give a Bedfordshire example from about 45 years ago when my local Vicar in Barnet had served his curacy in Luton in the neighbouring parish to St Hugh’s Lewsey, where the late Revd. Colin Urquhart was leading a charismatic Anglican congregation and saw it as a fad that would soon go away and if it was still around in 25 years it might just might be worth considering. Well, we can do the maths!! But how are we going to respond? To be led by the Spirit or question the validity of the Holy Spirit or just wait and see?

It is good each year to hear again that amazing story of the first Pentecost after Jesus ascended to heaven but its value is not in the story or even the imagery of the coming of the Holy Spirit but what we do as Christians with what we do with what we know? Are we being led by the Spirit or rather hoping that if we ignore then it may go away? I am not sure this is ever really an option but neither do I believe we all have to become charismatic Christians or undergo some separate initiation to be baptised in the Spirit. What we do however need to do is to be prepared to be led by God through His Holy Spirit and be ready to serve God as the Spirit leads us. I invite you to join with me in singing as a prayer the short hymn Lead me Lord, Lead me in your righteousness by the 19th century African American composer Samuel Sebastian Wesley for which there is a link and works well as a prayer. But for now, let us pray. Lord, we thank you that you have not left us alone but give us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Help us to be led by your Spirit and grow in grace and love as we are guided, supported and led. Amen

Lead me Lord, Lead me in your righteousness, Make your way plain before my face. For it is you Lord, you Lord only, that makes me to dwell in safety. https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=lead+me+lord+lead+me+in+thy+righteousness&mid=8B091D5E7F286CB432648B091D5E7F286CB43264&mcid=4C165DBDC4AC4225B621F3463F4C4910&FORM=VIRE