Pentecost's Future Orientation

We stand at the edge, just before the blessings of Pentecost are with us again. On the day of Pentecost, according to Luke, the people of God gathered in an upper room. I expect they were a bit apprehensive, not knowing what would happen to them. They lived with a promise of the coming of the Spirit so that they might go forth into the world and bear witness to God's grace and peace. They waited in anticipation, but did they know where this would lead? I don't expect that they did.

Then, on the day of Pentecost, as they gathered, hiding behind the doors of their room, the Spirit fell, breaking open their hiding place, so that the world might hear the gracious words of God's kingdom. But even then, it would take crisis and persecution to move them out of their very narrow sense of God' purpose.

Pentecost is a reminder that God is ever at work, always out front of us, setting the table.

Jurgen Moltmann writes:

The messianic concept represents a categorical mediation between the kingdom of God and history. It is Christian when, and to the extent in which, its mediations take their bearings from the history of Jesus and his mission. The first mediating category which must be mentioned in the messianic sphere is anticipation. An anticipation is not yet a fulfillment. But it is already the presence of the future in the conditions of history. It is a fragment of the coming whole. It is a payment made in advance of complete fulfillment and part-possession of what is still to come. (Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit: A Contribution to Messianic Ecclesiology Harper & Row, 1977, p. 193).

Pentecost was the down payment of God's promise to be with us as we live out God's future -- the Kingdom of God. May we experience the full blessing of God's Pentecost grace!

A word about the graphic -- it represents the Disciples of Christ Pentecost offering -- which supports new church development. I use it because I love the image!

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See other Pentecost postings from the CCBlog Network:

When Love Comes to Town - "Pentecost, Peace, and Grace."

Theolog - Donna Schaper writes about a double miracle.

I-YOUniverse - John Hamilton confesses that the Holy Spirit resides in his heart but not in his mouth.

Reflectionary - Martha Hoverson is asked to do a funeral the week before Pentecost .

Don't Eat Alone - Milton Brasher-Cunningham offers us a Pentecost poem .

Welcoming Spirit - Paula Jenkins struggles to understand the nature of the Holy Spirit.

Just Words - Ed Sunday-Winters reflects on the age of the Church. Almost 2000 years old, and yet Pentecost reminds us that the present experience of the Spirit is the locus of our power.

Unorthodoxology - David Henson: "I wonder if they still continue to speak in the tongues of men and of angels, because that is the only language they now understand."

Life and Faith - Ernesto Tinajero remembers a seminary professor who called the Holy Spirit, "Holy Breath."

Everyday Liturgy - Thomas Turner: "The Holy Spirit is more than a placeholder to complete the Trinity."

Where the Wind - Fiction by Adam Thomas: Davies writes a paper on the Holy Spirit.

Grounded and Rooted in Love - A Pentecost sermon.

Seeking Authentic Voice - Terri Pilarski reflects on Pentecost having grown up in a non-liturgical tradition.

Eclectic Faith - Christopher Keel reflects on Pentecost having been raised a Pentecostal.

Faith in Community - Diane Roth: Remembering Azusa Street.

I Thirst - Mark Hogg remembers Pentecost 2001.

Dancing on Saturday - Chad Holtz: Pentecost and the Ethiopian gospel choir."