Today is the Feast of Pentecost. In ancient times in Judaism, The Jewish feast of Pentecost (Shavuot) was primarily a thanksgiving for the first fruits of the wheat harvest (from Wikipedia). Pentecost celebrated the many fruits and gifts which God would provide.
At the time of the first Christian Pentecost, the early followers of Jesus were locked in an upper room. The Romans had already arrested and executed their saviour Jesus. They were scared that the Romans would soon break down their doors, arrest and execute them. Fear and darkness gripped them.
It is right at this moment, that God broke down their door and entered their lives in ways they could not fathom. In that moment, the Holy Spirit would over shadow them, like God had done overshadowing Mary at the Annunciation. Declaring “you are to conceive and bear a sonâ€. Now the Holy Spirit overshadowed the entire Christian community. Right when the Romans could have snuffed out and destroyed all hope. God turns up. Something incredible happens. During a moment of prayer in desperation, God changes the hearts and minds of his followers by giving them his living presence. A spirit that would now live inside each one. Hope which would appear in each person.
We need the Holy Spirit to surround us and change us. To overshadow our world with God’s living spirit.
Do we pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit?
What fears do we face and our world faces that needs the fire of the Spirit to birth us anew?
We pray…
Come Holy Spirit… Renew the face of the Earth…. Breath of wind renew our hearts. Quicken us with a desire to change. Shape us with courage to call for you in moments of our darkness. So that we might become the face of hope For the poor, outcast and forgotten. Be with us now So that we might be a presence That reveals the face of God.
(Audio Available)
