Ministry Matters - Preach. Teach. Worship. Reach. Lead. for Tuesday, 3 June 2014

Ministry Matters - Preach. Teach. Worship. Reach. Lead. for Tuesday, 3 June 2014

The Real Reason Men Aren't Singing in Church by Tom Fuerst

I read an article recently claiming to have discovered the real reason men are singing less in church these days. I’m not sure if there’s really any objective verification of this non-singing phenomenon, but if we do assume that it is true – that men are singing less in church these days than they did twenty or thirty years ago – then it is certainly worth asking why.

The article proposes this lack of singing is due, specifically, to the fact that men don’t know what they’re singing. With the arrival of the projection screen and the downfall of the hymnal, the church’s choral corpus has vastly expanded, leaving us with a situation where each week we’re singing newer and increasingly unknown songs. In short, the article says, in the last ten to twenty years, we’ve gone from 250 well-worn and comfortable hymns to over 250,000 contemporary songs which are far less known. The author then goes on to argue that, if we want men to sing more in church, we need to create familiarity with the songs… or, uh, go back to singing hymns.

I think this article may miss some far more simplistic reasons for this problem.

In the end, if lack of familiarity is the problem, wouldn’t it be a problem for both men and women? Observing a “problem” that is gender neutral (such as familiarity) should rears its ugly head across both sexes. But that’s not what we see here. The author is not observing a lack of female voices on a Sunday morning. This specifically male problem, however, suggests that there’s something distinctly “male” in the causation chain.

I think this problem, if we can continue to assume it is objectively verifiable, exists for a much more simple reason, but it’s a reason that simple answers (such as familiarity with the songs) fail to appreciate.

So why are men not singing in church?

1. Because men don’t want to be in church.

Look around your average evangelical church and you’ll likely see a 3 to 1 ratio of women to men. And of the men who actually do attend, you can see on about half of their faces that they’re only there because their wives want them to be there. The other half are there because they genuinely want to be there.

This reality, I’d be willing to be, is trending upward over the last 10 years. It is increasingly culturally acceptable for anyone – male or female – to stay at home on Sunday mornings (I’m not saying this is good or bad). As such, the women who do want to attend church are less likely to be concerned about their significant others attending.

But some men are still guilted into coming. But because they don’t want to be there, we should not expect them to do those things that express a desire to be there – namely, we should not expect them to sing. Why would they sing to a God they don’t want to worship? Why should we expect them to sing to God if they have no desire to attend his worship gathering?

In short, you have fewer men attending church. And you have a good number of men who do attend refusing to sing precisely because they’d rather not be attending. It therefore looks like fewer men are singing precisely because fewer men are singing.

This has little or nothing, however, to do with the familiarity of the songs.

2. Because the songs are primarily emotive…or, rather, wrongly emotive.

I’m just going to say this bluntly and let the chips fall where they may: Most songs sung in contemporary worship services are more emotive than they are theological. They primarily engage how we feel about God or how God feels about us. Even the musical structures of the songs are designed to induce an emotional response.

Add to this the fact that few pastors intentionally create emotional safety in their sermons (by fake crying, extreme forms of anger, drawn-out altar calls, threats of damnation, etc.), and you’ve got a whole Sunday-morning-ball of what men often perceive to be emotional manipulation.

This is not to say emotion is bad (or even that emotion is primarily female). But we need to understand that in our culture men are increasingly taught to not display emotion. Crying is forbidden from early boyhood. This may or may not be as bad as it once was, but being as contemporary Christian worship songs are so emotion-driven, it just highlights how much our culture does not permit men to emote.

But even so, I’m not convinced that the church often displays a healthy way of expressing emotion. If we are to continue using worship songs as an example, the fact that there are almost no songs of lamentation demonstrates that real expressions of suffering and pain and anger are not invited – and therefore, real, biblical expressions of joy are not permitted. We don’t allow for the expression of real suffering, so we know nothing about how to truly express gratitude.

In this, the church shows that we are adept at using emotive language in our songs, but nothing about our use of this language feels safe to men, especially given that we are predisposed toward denying emotion to begin with.

3. Because the songs are often saying the same lame things that don’t touch the soul in a meaningful way.

I’m not falling back on the old canned criticism of modern worship songs being “Seven words used eleven times.” I think contemporary worship songs have come a long way. But we still have a long way to go. Again, until we can grapple with real human emotions like lament and doubt and anger precisely as expressions of worship, we will never be able to sing songs or preach sermons that genuinely touch the souls of anyone, let alone men in particular.

Undoubtedly, there are worship artists who are doing a much better job of this. But their voice is not heard enough, and their songs are not played enough.

Do you want to know how I know these songs (and sermons) aren’t touching the souls of men? All I need to do is point you back to the 3-to-1 women to men statistic. Men aren’t attending church, not because they don’t know the songs, but because there is nothing in church that they think contributes meaningfully to their lives.

4. They can hear themselves and fear others can too.

This may seem strange to many pastors (who always like to hear themselves talking) and worship leaders (who have good voices), but most men don’t want to hear themselves sing. We’re embarrassed of our singing voices. Couple that with the first three reasons I listed in this piece, and you’ve got a ready-made-soup of non-singing.

Fortunately, this problem has the easiest solution – though, most pastors won’t want to hear it, even though many worship leaders will be in full affirmation.

The solution? Turn up the music.

That’s right. Turn it up. You’re in a contemporary worship service, after all.

Sure, it’s going to upset the 75 year olds in there. But they’re singing anyway. You’re not trying to prod them to sing. You’re trying to make space for men to sing. And the best way to do that is remove the distraction of fearing others may be able to hear them.

Another solution is for worship leaders to stop assuming the performance is about them, and actually sing in keys that the audience can follow. If men (or women) feel like they can sing along in a given key, they are more likely to do so. But this takes humility on the leader’s part because they may actually have to sacrifice their own vocal sweet-spot for the sake of the congregation. But, then, hey, isn’t that what leadership is about anyway?

The Truth

The truth is, most churches don’t want to face the real problems behind men not singing in church. We’re not ready to face the reasons why men may not like attending. We’re not ready to rethink how we talk about, sing about, and express emotion publicly. We’re not ready to engage the real emotions men feel. And we’re not ready to upset the status quo who like low-volumed music in order to create space for men to feel comfortable singing.

I’m not saying the familiarity aspect plays no role. But I do think, no matter how familiar men are with the songs, unless these other issues are dealt with, the familiarity answer is just a distraction to the real problem.

Your Turn: What do you think? Why don’t you think men are singing in church? Do you have any solutions? Do you even think this is a problem? 

This post originally appeared on Tom's blog, Tom1st.com. Subscribe to his blog to receive new posts via email.

Leading in Transition by Timothy Siburg

If you are a leader, and if you are in some form of ministry, then you almost certainly have had to deal with your fair share of transitions. How have you handled it? What has worked well for you in the midst of transition? What lessons do you wish you knew before you entered a transition?

In thinking about these questions allow me to offer observations from my own leadership transition experiences. Perhaps these will bring to mind some of your own experiences. What questions or ideas come to mind for you?

1) It's not easy.

Change is not easy. This is something any change expert will rightfully say. Thus, transition whether individually (as in my case) or in the case of a larger organization is not always easy. Emotions are involved. Legacies are involved. Questions and uncertainty are involved. Discernment is involved.

What I have found to be most important in being able to get through the tough moments, doubts, and questions is to admit how I am feeling in the moment, and then remember why I am doing what I am doing. Beyond that, I trust that one of the reasons I am doing what I am doing is that its part of something bigger than myself. From a faith aspect I trust in the promises of God- that God is with us, and God is at work here and everywhere and we are a part of that.

2) There is a need for affirmation

This needs a little unpacking. I am not talking about a seemingly vain need to be told that I am good. I am talking about an importance that the individual can trust that what they have done has not been in vain, but rather has laid some seeds or good fruit for the future. This affirmation does not necessarily need to come through words of another, but can be gained simply by taking the balcony view (like Heifetz and Linsky talk about) and comparing the view from the balcony in the present to the view you saw closer to when you started. If you notice a change, a new energy, or at least a new way of doing things and of people being able to be better in community with one another, that's affirmation.

3) Don't feel the need to preserve some legacy, rather be authentic and transparent.

At first blush this may seem contradictory to my previous point. But, its not, at least when allowed to be nuanced. Leaders who are more inward turned, seek to have their reputations upheld even in the midst of transition. In reality, one's legacy has been forming much longer than the transition. If done right, a transition is part of a legacy but it will not preserve or denigrate it. What does within the transition is one's openness, honesty, authenticity, and transparency.  

I have seen a great deal written lately about how millennials value authenticity and transparency. This might be true, but I would hope that all generations value such things. Without authenticity and transparency, it doesn't seem to me one can have a genuine and deep relationship with another person. Leadership depends greatly on relationships and to think otherwise puts leadership within a vacuum which is not all that realistic for the contextual and leadership needs of organizations and groups.

4) Leave it better than you found it.

Deep down, this should be the goal of leadership in general. But it also should be the goal of transition. For as much as you can control and enable, leave the organization or group you are transitioning out of, better than you found it. It's like the same adage your mom probably taught you about cleaning up after being some place. It's a basic stewardship hope too, leaving something at least as well, if not better than how it was entrusted to you in the first place. Obviously, you cannot control or dictate how others act, but at least for what you can be responsible for, make sure its better than you found it.

I like to measure this based on people's openness to dream and question. If people are open (and hopefully more open) to this, to engaging others with their questions, hopes, and dreams I believe I have had a small part in transforming a group to a new state of transparency and vitality for the present and future. Being able and aware enough to question assumptions is important. Allowing room for this, allows room for growth, and theologically I believe this is where room is left open for the Spirit to move us and lead us in new ways as we continue to discern what God might be up to in the world.

There are certainly other things I have learned but these four observations seem to stand out especially.

What are some insights you have discovered in your own life when leading in transition? 

Or perhaps some insights you have from your own transitions?

This post was adapted from posts previously appearing on Timothy Siburg's blog. 

Credits, Resources, and Sources

Peter F. Drucker, The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization, (San Francisco, CA:  Jossey-Bass, 2008). ISBN #9780470227565

Ronald A. Heifetz & Marty Linsky, "Get on the Balcony," in Leadership on the Line:  Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading, (Boston, MA:  Harvard Business School Press, 2002), 51-74. ISBN #9781578514373

Gil Rendle & Alice Mann, Holy Conversations:  Strategic Planning as a Spiritual Practice for Congregations, (Alban Institute, 2003). ISBN #9781566992862

Gilbert R. Rendle, Leading Change in the Congregation:  Spiritual and Organizational Tools for Leaders, (Alban Institute, 2002). ISBN #9781566991872

Anthony B. Robinson, Changing the Conversation:  A Third Way for Congregations, (Grand Rapids, MI:  William B. Eeerdmans Publishing Company, 2008). ISBN #9780802807595

Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ, God's Voice Within:  The Ignatian Way to Discover God's Will, (Chicago, IL:  Loyola Press, 2010). ISBN #9780829428612

How I Still Evangelize by Lyndsey Graves

“It makes me feel kind of icky.”

“I might have to do it, but I hope I never do.”

“Outdated and unnecessary.”

- Three reactions to the idea of evangelism, demonstrating that popular attitudes toward it are roughly analogous to those towards colonoscopies.

I involuntarily gathered these quotes by taking a class on evangelism this semester, and then by accidentally reading books for the class in public. My boss said aloud what everyone was thinking when he cheerfully-aggressively smiled and replied, “Just don’t evangelize me!”, executing a surprisingly spry spin away from me and closing his office door.

I have my own history with the word. As a kid, I came to believe that it meant getting strangers to convert to Christianity, especially if they were Catholic; so “evangelism” used to make me, a guilt-prone and stranger-averse child, feel slightly sick and clammy, like in those dreams where you’re back in school and you have to take a test you had no hope of preparing for. I didn’t even have a proper testimony, just an always-there knowledge that God was… always there. So when I first heard the whole “preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words” concept, it felt like getting off the hook for some cosmic homework assignment.

I am 100% into the idea that living a Christlike life is the best and most important way to evangelize - to “bring good news” - so that just maybe, other people can catch a glimpse of Jesus. Yet if that exhausts the definition of evangelism, we sort of lose the need for the word. The intention behind the verb goes missing. Yes, people might stop handing out hellfire tracts, so that’s a definite win, but we might also forget that “talking about your faith” was ever something done outside the walls of our Jesus club/church.

And if “going and preaching the gospel” is something to do, shouldn’t we somehow make a point of doing it… whatever it is? Even if it doesn’t mean telling other people their religion is stupid, or tricking them into accidentally coming to church, or doing mime-skits where the “lost” drink “beer” out of soda bottles handed to them by the “devil”/youth-group-guy-with-beard - shouldn’t we consciously share what is, ostensibly, good news?

I’ve reached the unpopular conclusion that we should. OK, so we’re all terrified that we’ll do it badly and ruin something precious - either the message of Jesus or a friendship. Great! The boring-mean-killjoy side of me thinks maybe we could stand to feel a little more cautious and reverent about some other things we Christians do; maybe we could be treating many more things and people as precious. A better side of me thinks this feeling means we’re finally starting to understand what evangelism is about: honesty and humility. Of course it’s scary; talking about faith can’t rightly be done without God’s help, and of course it feels vulnerable - you’re telling this personal story, and your friend might reject you, or Jesus, or both.

And I think that’s part of why it’s been done so terribly in the past. It was easier to hide behind deceit, covering over the more difficult parts to make it all more attractive. Or else to mask our vulnerability with pride, pushing others toward faith through fear and threats, or “winning” arguments without ever really seeing people. But I don’t think that simply clamming up about our faith in response to these evangelistic tactics is helping to redeem those experiences for ourselves or other people. Maybe learning to share with our friends the struggles, journeys, and stories that are a part of us could put us on a path toward healing.

I think I can identify the times I’ve engaged in something akin to evangelism; Each time, it was accompanied by that please-help-me-what-am-i-doing feeling that usually means I’ve wandered out to the edge of faith, where God wants me to be. It happens when we put new effort into translating an old story into someone else’s language, when we ask for the gift of speaking faithfully, when we trace back over the outlines of what all this means for us.

It happened in a youth-group room when I gave my over-prepared junior-year “talk” and said how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. It happened when I prayed halting, quiet prayers with high schoolers at the youth center who trusted me with their wounds and their scars. When I sat in an empty Gothic sanctuary with a questioning undergrad on Maundy Thursday last year, trying to talk about Holy Week sans Christianese and it was like he was washing our feet right there. Or when I blogged good news in a tear-filled flurry of breathless inspiration that felt like Spirit overflowing.

These moments have taught me a surprising reason God might want us to talk about him. Because in the middle of telling the old, old story, I heard the good news again for the first time. A listening, waiting, humble evangelism always teaches our own stories back to us. And in hearing those stories, in God’s helping us to tell them, in having to actually look at God again, we are folded back into her love anew.

Lyndsey Graves blogs at To Be Honest. This post originally appeared at On Pop Theology.

The Trinity: Relevant or Not? by Carol Cavin-Dillon 

Matthew 28:16-20

Several years ago in another church where I was serving, the children’s minister asked me if I would speak to the first-grade Sunday school class. The topic was worship, and he wanted me to meet with the children in the sanctuary so that we could get a close look at the baptismal font, the altar, and the paraments. Of course, I agreed. I love children and I think it’s so important to teach them about why we do what we do in the church.

So, at 9:45 on that Sunday morning, I met the youngsters at the front of the sanctuary. The children’s minister had asked me to wear my robe so that the children could see it and we could talk about it. After we toured the sanctuary and talked about colors and symbols, I sat down with them and asked if they had any questions. One little girl looked down, pointed at my white stole and said, “What’s that thing?”

I looked at my stole and said, “It’s a symbol of the Trinity.”

“What’s the Trinity?” she asked.

“Uh. . . .” For the next five minutes (which seemed like an eternity) I found myself trying to explain the Trinity to a group of first graders. I failed miserably. By the time I finished hemming and hawing, they looked so confused! How in the world do you teach a bunch of six-year-olds about the most complicated theological concept in the book? I guess the answer is just to wait until they’re older. A six-year-old is too young for Narnia, much less the Trinity!

Wait until they’re teenagers. Or even adults. We adults can handle such theological complexities, right? We’ve been to school. We’ve studied literature and algebra and biology and philosophy. Heck, some of us even have a Masters and PhD! Surely it’s easy for us to understand and explain the Trinity.

“Uh . . .”

One of my professors in seminary jokingly tried to explain it to us: “It makes perfect sense. God is three . . . is one . . . is three. Get it?”

“Uh . . .”

Let’s be honest. It’s hard to wrap our brains around the Trinity. Sure, we’ve all heard the shamrock idea: Just as the shamrock is one plant with three leaves, God is one God with three faces. Or maybe we’ve heard the water image: Just as water can take three forms in ice, liquid, and steam, so God has three forms. Helpful? Yes. Especially when faced with thirty first-graders looking to you for answers. But these images don’t answer many of our questions.

The truth is, the Trinity is a great mystery that is hard to understand and even harder to explain. And yet, it lies at the foundation of what we Christians believe about God. Almost every creed of the church affirms our belief in God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We even devote a high holy day of the church to this mystery. But do we have any idea what we’re doing?

Is the Trinity just an obscure doctrine that we give lip service to because the church calendar tells us to? Does it have anything to do with our daily living? Think about it—what does the Trinity mean to you? It’s worth pondering and praying over.

In Scripture, we have heard about the three persons of the Trinity. We have recalled how God has been revealed to us in three distinct ways. Genesis 1 recounts the power of God the Creator. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. A loving and powerful God made the universe in all its vastness and mystery. Psalm 8 sings of the wonders of the universe and how they reveal to us the power of our Creator. The stars, the planets, the oceans, and the mountains—all of it came from the hand of God. But this creator God is not just concerned with the grandness of the universe. God also created each strand of our DNA with care. God created each one of us to be unique, to have special gifts, and special purpose. Your life and my life matter to God. We have a place in this universe and a calling to fulfill. It is God who has created us in love and calls us to live in love. So, yes, that makes sense. That’s relevant to our daily lives.

One way that God teaches us how to love creation and one another is in the person of Jesus Christ. As Matthew and the other gospel writers tell us, Jesus walked alongside us on this earth to show us the face of God. And in Jesus’ death and resurrection, God becomes our Redeemer. Now, we spend a lot of time in the church talking about Jesus. We learn about Jesus’ teaching, his example, his healing, and his love. The gospel stories give us something tangible to hold onto. Jesus gives us all sorts of guidance on how to live our lives. It’s not hard to find ways that Jesus is relevant to our lives. Just count how many cars have the bumper sticker: “What Would Jesus Do?”

What about the Holy Spirit? For many of us, the Spirit is very relevant to our daily living. We recognize the Spirit’s activity all around us: in those little nudges to call someone or pray for someone, in the peace that surrounds us when we undergo surgery, in the inspiration that comes when we’re teaching Sunday school or praying, in the committee meeting where truth is spoken and consensus is reached. Many of us know the Spirit as our sustainer, our inspiration, our daily guide.

We see daily evidence of God our Creator. We strive to follow the concrete example of Jesus the Christ. We look for signs of the Holy Spirit around us. Individually, the three persons of the Trinity make sense to us. But what does it mean for the three to be one and the one to be three? God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One in three in one. Ice and liquid and steam. Three leaves of a shamrock. What power can this mysterious doctrine have for us? There is something beautiful and powerful about a God in three persons. There is something God can reveal to us when we ponder the mystery of the Trinity.

In the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, there is an icon of the Holy Trinity painted by Andrei Rublev sometime around 1400. For those of you who are unfamiliar with icons, they are pictures that are used in prayer. Believers are to gaze at them prayerfully until they become like a window into the heart of God.

This particular icon portrays the three persons of the Holy Trinity as three angels sitting together at a table. The head of each angel is inclined toward one of the others, so that there seems to be a circular movement around the table, connecting the three to one another. On the table is a chalice. What this image reveals to me is that in God there is a living, loving community. From the beginning of time until the end of the age, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have existed as a holy community of love and grace. To put it another way, God is community.

So, as we reflect on the Trinity, don’t let it be just a vague, dry doctrine for us. Don’t write it off as something that’s just too complicated for us to understand. Don’t leave it to the seminary professors to debate about.

Let’s think about the community of love that has been within God since the beginning of time. Let’s accept God’s invitation to join in that community. As we see real, concrete examples of how God has created us, redeemed us, and sustained us, let us respond with love and gratitude. Let us add our love to the Trinity’s communion of love.

What’s more, let God be revealed in our community. The Trinity teaches us that no one ever stands alone. As soon as we accept God’s love and redemption, we are members of a community. We cannot be Christians without being connected to one another. Sorry. If we’re going to embrace God the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, then we’re going to have to embrace each other. Not just the folks who are inside the church’s four walls this morning, but everyone who calls upon the Triune God.

If that weren’t hard enough, God calls us to do more. Not only do we have to love other believers, but we have to go out and share God’s love with the world. Jesus commanded his followers: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). The love we find in the Trinity, the communion we find with one another, is not just for our own sakes. It’s for the sake of the world. It’s meant to be shared.

The world needs love. The world needs grace. The world needs community. May the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—help us to share the message of the Trinity with all of creation.

 

Why I Marched on McDonald's by William J. Barber II

(RNS) Recently, I marched with McDonald’s workers from three dozen cities to the company’s corporate headquarters outside of Chicago. After they refused to leave the corporate campus of the fast-food giant with its $5.6 billion in profits last year, 101 workers were arrested.

I knew I had to come when the workers invited me to share some of the lessons we have been learning in North Carolina about civil disobedience — and moral support.

I watched my new friends sit down. I watched the police gather. I prayed with the McDonald’s workers as the police looked on and then slapped plastic handcuffs on more than 100 of the workers and arrested them.

I could not help but think of the historic arc of the civil rights movement. For all the gains we have been making, the treatment of low-paid workers by some of the most profitable corporations in the world ranks high in the more significant causes of the growing inequalities in the U.S.

I have helped lead the fight against backward laws passed by an extremist group of legislators that, three years ago, took power in North Carolina. Last year, national media discovered us, calling us the Moral Monday protesters. In fact we have been organizing and protesting for eight years. The fight for living wages and the right to collectively bargain for all workers are key parts of the 14-point agenda we developed in 2006 along with dozens of progressive partner organizations. We know money in the hands of low-wage workers lifts our economy.

But helping workers collectively fight for better wages is central to our movement and the right thing to do. All great religions instruct their followers on how employers should treat their workers. Living wages are at the center of our deepest moral and faith traditions.

Consider Deuteronomy 24:14: “You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin.”

Or Jeremiah 22:13: “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages.”

As I travel the country, I see more and more evidence that we are on the threshold of the Third Reconstruction Movement. The First Reconstruction, built by a multiracial Southern Fusion movement in the wake of the Civil War, was crushed when the nation legalized segregation and two-tier employment, housing, education and health system. Jim Crow laws were driven deep into the Southern economic and political system, setting back the human race in the struggle to repair the breach caused by racism.

The Second Reconstruction can be traced to that glorious day in 1954 when nine white men in black robes said no to Jim Crow. Over the next 14 years, young and old, white and black, rich and poor risked their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to repair the breach. In 1968, with the murder of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the destruction of the organizational infrastructure of the Southern freedom movement, and a clever propaganda campaign relying on thinly disguised racist appeals to white Southern voters, extremists betrayed President Lincoln’s vision and his party. They turned their back on people of color. And they have become willing accomplices to a 40-year effort to dismantle the gains of the Second Reconstruction.

Now we believe we have come to the threshold of the Third Reconstruction. The McDonald’s employees take their honored places in the front lines of this movement. Injustice cannot be met with silence. We must listen to workers like Cherri Delesline, mother of four from South Carolina, who makes the same $7.35 an hour she made on her first day at McDonald’s 10 years ago. Hear the voice of Adriana Alvarez, a single mother from Chicago, who makes pennies above minimum wage at McDonald’s and has to rely on public assistance to care for her son.

You cannot see injustice and say nothing. You cannot see exploitation and say nothing. You cannot see systematic poverty and say nothing. You cannot see one human being abuse another human being, God’s creation, and say nothing. At every time, in every age, we need dissenters, who speak out about injustice.

In North Carolina, we say “Forward Together, Not One Step Back.” We salute the McDonald’s workers. They are in the front ranks of the Third Reconstruction — the fight of our time.

Copyright © 2014 Religion News LLC.

Pentecost Worship

Three Months With The Spirit (Acts 2:14-21) by Justo L. González

Read

Acts 2:14-21

See

Peter's speech was a response to the mocking attitude of some. Although we generally imagine that they were laughing or scoffing at the disciples, the text does not necessarily say that. It rather seems to say that they were mocking the full event, the dis­ciples as well as those who heard them in amazement.

Peter began by quoting words of Joel referring to "the last days." In other words, Peter was claiming that the last days had begun with the gift of the Holy Spirit and that ever since, we have been living in those last days, even though centuries have gone by.

What characterizes those last days, according to the quotation from Joel and to Peter's speech, is the gift of the Holy Spirit that undermines the distinctions of power and hierarchy that might otherwise exist. Thus, both the sons and the daughters shall prophesy, the young shall see visions, the elderly shall dream dreams, and even the slaves, both men and women, will receive the same power of the Spirit.

Judge

The society into which the church was born was much divided by inequality. Fathers had absolute authority over their children, even when the latter were fully grown. The elderly had authority over the young, men over women, masters over slaves, priests over the rest of the people. The gift of the Spirit, as inter­preted by Peter on the basis of the words of Joel, questions all such hierarchies. Now the sons and daughters prophesy, and even the slaves have the same gift of the Spirit as anyone else.

In our society there are still inequalities. Sadly, sometimes we find in our own churches inequalities that we have learned or have copied from the surrounding society or even from the soci­ety of the first century.

Act

Questions for reflection:

What relationship do you see between the gift of the Holy Spirit and the power to create a community that overcomes inequality?

Is there any relationship between being such a com­munity and having the power to testify?

Share your reflections with others.

excerpt from: Three Months With The Spirit by Justo L. González Copyright©2003 by Abingdon Press. Used with permission.

Three Months With The Spirit (Acts 2:1-13) by Justo L. González

Read

Acts 2:1-21

See

The events took place on the "day of Pentecost," a tradition­ al Jewish festival. For that festival, people from many different countries had gathered in Jerusalem, and when the disciples who had received the Spirit spoke, the various people understood them, each in his or own native tongue. Many were amazed by this understanding, but others scoffed, saying that those who spoke were drunk.

Note that the text underscores the unity of the followers of Jesus, saying that they were "all together in one place."

Note also the play on words (which exists also in the original Greek language) between the "tongues" of fire and the "tongues" that people spoke. (NRSV)

Note above all that the purpose of these different tongues is not to edify those who speak, but rather to make the witness about Jesus available to those whose mother tongues they are. Note final­ly that those who received the Spirit and spoke were not only the twelve, but also all those who were gathered, including women.

Judge

For today's meditation, center your attention on two sub­jects. The first is that...the promise of the Holy Spirit is now fulfilled. Thanks to the power of the Spirit, the disciples become witnesses.

Second, notice that when the disciples received the Holy Spirit, people heard them, each in his or her own tongue. In order to lis­ten and respond to the proclamation of the gospel, one did not have to understand the language of the first disciples, nor did one have to become like them. From its very birth at Pentecost, the church has been multilingual and multicultural. Sometimes, Christians in a majority or dominant culture think that others have to learn their language and culture, and to worship just as they do. At Pentecost, the Spirit did not reject the diversity of tongues in which the gospel is to be spoken and lived out, but rather accepted and even affirmed it.

Act

Ask yourself the following questions, and write down your reflections:

Do I give witness to Jesus Christ with the full fervor and strength of one who has received the Holy Spirit?

Do we love and support one another in church with all the love of those who have received the Holy Spirit?

How does my church reflect the fact that the Spirit makes it possible for people to listen in their own language and culture?

excerpt from: Three Months With The Spirit by Justo L. González Copyright©2003 by Abingdon Press. Used with permission.

Commentary for Pentecost, Acts 2:1-21 by Joel B. Green

As Luke makes clear in this text, essential to the work of faithful interpretation is a people formed by the Scriptures, Israel's own story, and minds inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Bewildered,” or “puzzled,” Luke writes, “and astonished” (Acts 2:12). These are responses characteristic of those who witnessed the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, and why not? These are extraordinary events, after all—extraordinary when taken on their own terms, but even more so when heard as Luke presents the story, full of echoes and reverberations from Israel's own history. The sound of winds raging; flame-like tongues, scores of them; an international, carnivalesque mixture of languages, some familiar and others belonging to an all-but-forgotten past— befuddlement and wonder may well be the anticipated responses to such phenomena as these! In fact, the entire passage that attracts our attention, Acts 2:1-21, pivots around the question posed in v 12, “What does this mean?”

Events do not generally come to us labeled, self-interpreting, so that biblical faith and biblical preaching funds a needed, hermeneutical enterprise: locating events within the larger mural of God's work in order to give them meaning. As Luke makes clear in this text, essential to the work of faithful interpretation is a people formed by the Scriptures, Israel's own story, and minds opened (or, better, inspired) by the Holy Spirit. The events of this day are quickly recited; the rest of Luke's narrative is given over to the interpretive work of tying together the Scriptures of Israel and the coming of the Spirit.

First, the gift of the Spirit, together with its effects, demonstrates the central importance of charismatic hermeneutics. Although tongue-speaking leads to the indictment, “They are filled with new wine” (v 13), we should not imagine that this is because Jesus' followers are speaking gibberish or otherwise behaving out of sorts. To those with the appropriate language repertoire, Pentecostal speech makes perfect sense: “in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power” (v 11). Moreover, the rare word Luke uses of their inspired utterance, apophthengomai (v 4), is also found in Acts in 2:14, where it points to Peter's prophetic interpretation of Scripture, and 26:25, where it is explicitly contrasted with “raving” or “being out of one's mind” (mainomai). Not only is their speech intelligible, it is also inspired and doxological, taken up with relating the mighty acts of God in Israel's history, “God's deeds of power” (see Pss 106:2; 145:4, 12; Exodus 15).

Even more impressive are the ways Luke ties the Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit into Israel's history and hope. The Scriptures give meaning to Pentecost, to be sure, but Pentecost also shows how best to read and embody Israel's story. Among these links to the Scriptures, the most explicit comes in Peter's interpretive citation of Joel 2:28-32, but first we are driven back even further into the story, back to God's purpose in Creation.

The ancient will of God is sounded in the important allusions to the story of Babel in Acts 2. In spite of periodic suggestions in the commentaries, we find no “reversal of Babel” in Luke's story and, indeed, we would be mistaken to imagine that Babel needed reversing in the first place. Genesis 11 does not present the confusion of languages on the plain of Shinar simply as a punitive action on God's part. Instead, God's purpose from the beginning was for the human family to scatter across and to fill the whole earth, and this is the consequence of Babel (see Gen 1:28; 9:1; 10:32; 11:8). Pushing further, what has frustrated God's purpose in Genesis 11 is not merely the collusion of humanity against God's purpose. Rather, the wickedness of this idolatrous plan is betrayed in the opening of the Babel story, with its reference to “one language"—a metaphor in the Ancient Near East for the subjugation and assimilation of conquered peoples by a dominate nation. Linguistic domination is a potent weapon in the imperial arsenal, as people of Luke's world themselves would have known, living as they did in the wake of the conquest of “the world” by Alexander the Great and subsequent creation of a single, Greek-speaking, linguistic community. God's scattering the people at Babel was already an act of grace, therefore, and, in an ironic way, God's intervening in Genesis 11 to thwart humanity's common building project actually opens up again fresh possibilities for human community. These are realized in Pentecost.

If God deconstructs a coerced unity in Genesis 11, Acts provides no invitation to return to a single language as a divine blessing or gift. Pentecost is not the call to gather in a single place, the center of the earth, but the place of launching for a missionary movement to “the end of the earth” (1:8). What are we to make of the language miracle? When reading Acts 2, it is imperative that we remember that, for this missionary activity to commence, speaking in the old, native languages of those gathered was simply unnecessary. Had those disciples spoken in Greek, all would have understood; Alexander's march across the Mediterranean world guaranteed that! Like Babel, Pentecost is about the divine enabling of languages, but a key difference is signaled in the midst of similarity. Acts 2 begins and ends with Luke's report of the unity of human community (vv 1, 42-47), but this koinonia is not the consequence of political domination, and unity is not instituted at the expense of distinctions among human communities. Pentecost does not reverse Babel but parodies it. With the outpouring of the Spirit, koinonia is realized, not as the consequence of a single, repressive language, nor by the dissolution of multiple languages, nor by the dissolution of social and regional distinctives in the formation of cultural homogeneity. Rather, koinonia results from the generative activity of the Spirit who is poured out by Jesus (v 33) and the location of a new rallying point of identity among those “who call on the name of the Lord,” those baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ” (vv 21, 38).

Acts 2:5-11 functions as a kind of “echo chamber,” then, within which the story of the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost reverberates with the ancient account of Babel. Luke locates the outpouring of the Spirit in relation to other points in Israel's past, too, especially the tradition of Pentecost, a harvest festival celebrating God's provision and offering thanksgiving for God's good gifts. Closer in the memory of Luke's own readers would be the ways in which the Gospel of Luke itself has set the stage for anticipating and understanding this outpouring of the Spirit. John anticipated the messianic baptism with the Spirit and fire, and Jesus spoke of both the faithfulness of the Father who keeps his promise and responds graciously to the prayers of his people, and the promise of Israel's restoration and accompanying mission to all peoples (Luke 3:15-17; 11:1-13; 24:44-49; Acts 1:4-8). Operating even more in the foreground to bathe the Pentecostal events in meaning is Peter's citation of the prophet Joel in Acts 2:17-21.

Up to this point, Luke's report of the Pentecostal phenomena has been particularly spectacular and graphic. When Peter rises to deliver his speech, however, all activity comes to a standstill. The introduction to the speech is cumbersome, the language overly burdened (v 14), as Luke draws attention to the gravity of Peter's sermon and provides his audience with an opportunity to take stock of what has been happening. The prophet Joel is quoted as a “hermeneutical aside,” interpreting these events in pictures borrowed from the Scriptures. It is worth remembering, then, that Jesus has already “opened” Peter's mind to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45), and poured the Spirit on Peter so that he might expound them faithfully.

Of course, Peter is not alone, even if he is the spokesperson. Like the prophets of old, who were associated with bands of prophets, so Peter appears in the company of other followers. This is important because it coheres with the terms of Joel's prophecy: God is forming a prophetic community. Dismissing the charge of drunkenness brought against the disciples, Peter substitutes his own interpretation. With his words, “this is what was spoken,” he draws an analogy between biblical text and current events and people. How does Peter know to make this connection? Peter is empowered to discern the affinity of the Joel-text to his own community. He is a Spirit-inspired interpreter of Scripture, a charismatic hermeneut. As such, his citation of the biblical text is not word-for-word, but already interpretation. Four motifs are central:

ONE: Joel is tasked with providing a timetable within which to make sense of recent events (from the crucifixion through the outpouring of the Spirit) and the mission set in motion by the reception of the Spirit. These are “the last days” (v 17), even if the “day of the Lord” (v 20) remains a future expectation. Pentecost does not fulfill Joel's prophecy, then, but clarifies its meaning by separating chronologically the restoration and subsequent universal mission of God's people from The End.

TWO: Premium is given to prophecy and divine revelation. In continuity with Israel's history, this suggests that followers of Jesus comprise a community of prophets who (1) access the counsel of God (including “visions and dreams,” means of charismatic revelation) and (2) serve a destabilizing role in the larger world on account of their unrelenting faithfulness to God and their questioning rather than validating those habits of national and religious life that compete with God's counsel.

THREE: The judgment of Judah's enemies, emphasized in Joel, has been replaced with the universal mission and promise of salvation. The terms are emphatic, allowing for no restrictions whatsoever, apart from response to the call to discipleship itself: “all flesh,” “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.” This salvation, as Luke will show, is tied up with the restoration of God's people through forgiveness, the reception of the Spirit, and incorporation into the community of God's people through hospitality and baptism.

FOUR: Finally, if calling “upon the name of the Lord” bears this weighty significance, it is crucial to identify correctly who is this Lord! For readers of Joel, the answer is obvious: Yahweh. For the larger Roman world, the answer is equally transparent: the giver of divine blessings. For Acts, these two answers coalesce in Jesus, who, through his exaltation, has been installed as God's Co-Regent, who shares in God's identity, and through whom divine beneficence is available (2:29-36).

In the logic of Pentecost, this is the claim that comes into sharp relief: the outpouring of the Spirit certifies that Jesus is the enthroned Lord and Christ, and this marks the decisive shift in history when God brings his ancient promises to fruition. Generated by the Pentecostal Spirit, the church now embodies and broadcasts the interpreted Scriptures.

It has been a long journey for Jesus' followers. Lacking in their capacity to imagine the ways of God, they have repeatedly proven themselves incapable of making sense of Jesus' message, even working at cross-purposes with him. Their metamorphosis has now reached a critical juncture. Their minds having been opened by the Risen Lord to understand the Scriptures, and now, recipients of the Pentecostal Spirit, they are empowered by the Spirit both to fathom the significance of the dramatic events that have transpired at this Feast and to communicate their significance in ways that draw those events into the ancient purpose of God. They weave together Pentecostal phenomena, the story of Jesus, and the witness of Israel's Scriptures. The result is a community generated by the Spirit, shaped by the proclaimed Word.

This commentary originally appeared in Circuit Rider magazine.  …

Pentecost Not Drunk by Gregory L. Tolle

In Man of the House: The Life and Political Memoirs of Speaker Tip O’Neill, O’Neill tells an old Irish story about Uncle Denny who met his priest as he was walking down the street.

The priest took one look at Uncle Denny and said, “You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Three weeks ago, you came in and took the pledge and vowed that you’d never take another drink as long as you live. And now look at you — you’re drunk.”

Uncle Denny replied, “I’m not drunk, Father. What makes you say a thing like that? I’m not drunk at all!”

The priest responded, “Well, if you’re not drunk, then why were you walking along with one foot on the curbstone and one foot in the gutter?”

Denny said, “I was?”

The priest confirmed, “Indeed you were.”

And Uncle Denny replied, “Thank the good Lord, I thought I was lame.”

Because of the apostle’s behavior at Pentecost, they too were accused of being drunk. How else could the people explain their wild appearance and behavior? These people knew that these followers of Jesus were different. However, their assessment as to why was wrong. The apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit.

But it raises a question for us. When folks see and hear us, what do they assume? How do they explain our appearance and behavior? It may be that there is nothing to explain. If we seem to be like everybody else, then shame on us. We are not called to blend in— but to stand out in such a way that calls attention to our God. I wonder if too many Christians would never be mistaken for being drunk because their faith is so incredibly sober.

I don’t drink, so I am way out of my league here, but I think I know what I would do if I wanted to keep a bit of a buzz. I would start with a drink first thing in the morning. I would keep a flask or something with me all day long. I would have a drink or two at lunch and dinner. And I would have a nightcap before bed. I would hang out with people who thought the same way and we would get drunk together.

That would be my approach if I wanted to live under the influence of alcohol. Perhaps it serves as a model for how I might live under the influence of the Spirit— to keep in close contact with God all day and also to hang out with others who share my passion. Then it might be my privilege to be misunderstood by the people around me— just like those Spirit-filled forefathers in Jerusalem. The apostles weren’t drunk— just excited. They were filled with the Holy Spirit that they encountered through a violent wind and tongues of fire, and they took the message of Jesus to the entire earth. Pentecost was a moment of earth, wind, and fire.

We can’t create this wind and flame, but we can— and should— allow the Holy Spirit to work within us to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

excerpt from Lectionary Tales For the Pulpit included in the Ministry Matters Premium Subscription

The Holy Spirit Comes by J. Ellsworth Kalas

The excerpt below is from Adult Bible Studies Spring 2013 ©Cokesbury. 

Used with permission.

For the complete lesson, scroll download to view or print the pdf.

Purpose

To receive the reality of God's Spirit in our lives and in the church.

Hearing the Word

The Scripture for this lesson is printed below. The background text is Acts 2:1-36.

Acts 2:1-13

1 When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them. 4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

5 There were pious Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered. They were mystified because everyone heard them speaking in their native languages. 7 They were surprised and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all the people who are speaking Galileans, every one of them? 8 How then can each of us hear them speaking in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; as well as residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the regions of Libya bordering Cyrene; and visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), 11 Cretans and Arabs––we hear them declaring the mighty works of God in our own languages!” 12 They were all surprised and bewildered. Some asked each other, “What does this mean?” 13 Others jeered at them, saying, “They’re full of new wine!”

Key Verse: They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak. (Acts 2:4)

Seeing the Need

Years ago I read somewhere that the Holy Spirit is the unknown member of the Trinity. Though I cannot remember who said it, I know it is true. My decades as a pastor, preacher, and teacher have given me firsthand evidence. Most Christians can explain at least some of their beliefs about God or Jesus Christ, but only a few can define what they believe about the Holy Spirit.

It is important that we know as much as possible about all of our Christian teachings, but it is particularly important that we know about the Holy Spirit. On the last evening that Jesus spent with his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion, he spoke at length about the Holy Spirit. He explained that it was important that he go away because otherwise “the Companion [that is, the Holy Spirit] won’t come to you” and that “when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you in all truth” (John 16:7, 13).

Since Jesus laid so much emphasis on the place of the Holy Spirit in our individual lives and in the community of believers, it is strange indeed that we know so little about the Spirit. If we are to receive the reality of God’s Spirit in our lives and in the church, we need to learn more about the Holy Spirit.

In what ways have you experienced the Holy Spirit?

Prayer: Help us, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to be your witnesses in our time and place; in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

The entire lesson is available below as a pdf.

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Lesson Title: The Holy Spirit Comes

Make a Big Deal About Pentecost! by Susan Cox-Johnson

Make a big deal about Pentecost! Pentecost, the "birthday of the church," celebrates God's sending of the Holy Spirit, creating understanding and unity among the early followers of the risen Christ. It was originally a Jewish harvest holiday; it became, in the early church, the culmination of the "great fifty days" following Easter. For the church today, Pentecost is almost the only significant Christian holiday that has not been usurped by commercialism, so make the most of it with these terrific ideas for celebrating!

With Young Children

Young children will catch your enthusiasm for Pentecost, and will learn that we read about Pentecost in a very special book, the Bible. Preschoolers are eager for parties, especially birthday parties, and will happily celebrate the birthday of the church with cookies or cupcakes and candles. Although they may miss the historical details, together you will establish positive memories about this significant day.

Young children enjoy acting out stories and dressing up. Provide costumes for the children and help them dramatize the story as you retell it. Encourage them to use their hands to demonstrate "tongues of fire" on their heads, and to make the sounds of the mighty wind.

If you worship in a sanctuary with stained glass windows, enliven children's natural awareness of color and shapes by helping them discover the color red and to find doves and flames that represent the day. Don't forget banners and kneeling pads if you have them! 

School-age Children and Pentecost

Emphasize Peter's courageous role (especially in light of his earlier denial of knowing Jesus) in the Pentecost story. As fans of action heroes, help the children understand Peter and the other disciples as brave heroes for their faith.

Middle- and older-elementary children, who are beginning to think symbolically, will enjoy activities that include the symbols of the day like the descending dove and the flames. Include activities that emphasize the outreach of the church, such as ways we care for people in need, and how the church ministers across the world.

Ways for Everyone to Celebrate

Adapt these ideas for your age group and class size.

Have a birthday party! Bring a birthday cake to share. You can also let the children decorate it using red icing and the symbols of Pentecost.

Instead of having "party favors" to take home, help the children make a simple gift that they can share with their community. Make Pentecost-related tray favors for the nursing home by drawing doves on cards and decorating them. If there is a daycare or preschool in your church, have children make pinwheels to be shared with the children. Remind the children that when the Holy Spirit carne, the Bible says it sounded like a mighty wind.

Make a banner! Explain that the followers of Jesus spoke different languages, but were miraculously able to understand one another. Help the children make a poster or banner using the word peace in as many languages as possible. Incorporate the Pentecost colors of red, white, and gold.

Invite persons from different nationalities in your church or community to share how Christians worship and observe Pentecost in their countries.

Emphasize that the Holy Spirit was poured out "upon everyone" (Joel 2:28). Teach your class about one of the missions your church supports that demonstrates the love and peace that the Holy Spirit brings (or describe the Heifer International, Habitat for Humanity, or another outreach project). All of these activities emphasize the empowerment the church receives from the Holy Spirit.

Sing church "birthday" songs like We are the Church or Jesus Love Me include other languages and don't forget Happy Birthday!

The Coming of the Holy Spirit

Describe the symbols of Pentecost through your newsletter, bulletin, and website. Help members of the congregation understand that red represents the tongues of fire, white represents the dove of the Holy Spirit, and that streamers are often used to represent the wind. (You can also add wind chimes!) Encourage everyone to wear red on Pentecost, and provide red ribbons and pins in case some forget. Ask your pastor if the children may read and interpret Acts 2:1-4 for worship on Pentecost Sunday. If you teach older children, ask two children to read the story aloud. Have one child read the narration and another read the places where people speak. Have other children be the "spirit bearers" who, each time the Holy Spirit is mentioned, wave short dowel sticks, wrapped with streamers of crepe paper. Children will enjoy developing other actions and sounds for the wind, the voices, and the flames.

Celebrate the presence of the Holy Spirit by singing songs like I'm Goin' a Sing When the Spirit Says Sing, Spirit of the Living God, Surely the Presence of the Lord, and Sweet, Sweet Spirit.

A Celebration of Wind

Acts 2:2 tells us that when the Holy Spirit descended, there was a sound "like the howling of a fierce wind." We often refer to the Holy Spirit as the "breath of God." Have a celebration of wind by making pinwheels from red, orange, and yellow paper. Or fly paper airplanes with Pentecost symbols on the wings, blow bubbles, or fly a kite! Let the children take pleasure in the wind that God has created.

Ask children and their families to bring windsocks or wind chimes from home to decorate the sanctuary. The sound of the wind chimes will enhance worship for persons of all ages.

No matter how you decide to celebrate Pentecost in your classroom, don't be afraid to make a big deal about it! Use your imagination! The Holy Spirit comes to open us to new possibilities!

So make a big deal about Pentecost!

Preparing for Pentecost by Robin Knowles Wallace

Pentecost, the birthday of the church, is a wonderful time to celebrate and involve children in learning.

Pentecost is a "movable feast" of the church. Like Easter, Pentecost occurs on a different date each year. The word "pentecost" comes from Greek, and means "fiftieth day." It occurs on the fiftieth day after Easter and, in the church, it is known as the last of the Great Fifty Days. The Great Fifty Days begin at sunset on Easter Eve (the evening before Easter) and end on the evening of Pentecost Day. If you have used an Easter (Paschal) candle, Pentecost is the last day on which it will be lit during ordinary worship.

During the Great Fifty Days we in the church focus on Christ's resurrection, his many appearances to his followers, and then on his ascension. With Pentecost we celebrate the birthday of the Church and the presence of the Holy Spirit as described in Acts 2. Pentecost reminds us that the Holy Spirit brings life to the church. From that first Pentecost the church grew out from Jerusalem into all the world. The Holy Spirit is part of God from the beginning, before creation.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, Pentecost was celebrated in connection with the harvest and, later, with the giving of the law on Mount Sinai (the Ten Commandments). With the Christian celebration of Pentecost, the freedom Jesus gives us through the Spirit is contrasted with the old life under the law.

When you read the story of Pentecost from Acts 2:1-6 (older children should read through verse 11), emphasize that the importance of the different languages is that each person could hear about "God's deeds of power" in their own language. It was like the "simultaneous translation" that goes on at the United Nations or other important international conferences. If you have a good map of New Testament times, older children might look up the different countries mentioned in verses 9-11.

Red Tells the Story

The color for Pentecost is red, and actually might be a fire red, or red with an orange cast for the tongues of flame or flames of fire that represent the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:3. During the week before Pentecost encourage children to wear red for Pentecost. Have red streamers ready for "neckties" or "necklaces" for those who forget.

Symbols Speak Louder than Words

There are a variety of symbols for Pentecost which can be gathered for altar settings or used in crafts with children of various ages. The Spirit appears as the wind over the waters of creation (Genesis 1:2) and as a descending dove at Jesus' baptism (Mark 1:10).

Symbols for the church include a ship (like Noah's ark) and the rainbow sign of God's covenant. The ceilings of many older sanctuaries were made to look like the inside of the hull of a ship. Danish churches and churches with sailors often included a model ship hanging in the middle of the sanctuary. The use of the ship reminds us that we are saved by God (as in the Noah story) and that as the church we are in this together. The rainbow reminds us not only of the covenant with Noah, but also of the beauty and variety of God's creation, including the varieties of persons welcome in our churches as God's children.

Red flowers, such as geraniums, might be planted or placed around the sanctuary, the children's worship center, or around the church (with a warning to come in "digging" clothes).

Learning the Vocabulary

Discussion could center around the names and images for the Holy Spirit, adding more for the older children, less for the younger. These words and images include: Breath of God, Dove, Wind, Fire, Comforter, Counselor, Wisdom, and God's Presence.

Older children may be interested to know that "Whitsunday" is the word used for Pentecost in England (they may run across it in British books they read). They can also learn the Hebrew word for spirit, "ruach," pronounced with the accent on the first syllable. "Paraclete" is another word for the Holy Spirit, being the Greek word used often in the Gospel of John.

Singing Pentecost Songs

Avery and Marsh's song, "I Am the Church" is good to use on Pentecost. Teach younger children the refrain with motions. At the word "I," point to self. At the word "you," point to a partner. At the word "we," shake hands with self or partner. At the word "Jesus," spread arms to include all disciples. At the word "world," make large circles with arms. At the word "together," shake hands with self or partner. Older children can sing the verses that talk about the church, with stanza 5 specifically about Pentecost.

Another song about the Spirit which children love to sing and act out is the African American spiritual "I'm Goin' a Sing When the Spirit Says Sing." Fold hands for the stanza with "pray"; let the children shout on the "shout" stanza; add stanzas for stand, march, sit, clap.

Older elementary children might consider the various words associated with the Spirit, such as those found in the third stanza of Thomas Troeger's "Source and Sovereign, Rock and Cloud." Those children who prefer to read might call out the words slowly while the more adventurous act out storm, stillness, thunder. comfort, and so on. These children might also respond to the Native American "Prayer to the Holy Spirit." If older children have been to church camp or vacation Bible school, they may know the song "Pass It On," which starts with the image of a spark of fire growing, much like the early church started and grew with Pentecost.

Pentecost: A Day of Many Celebrations

Pentecost is also a day of baptism and confirmation in many churches. If your church is celebrating in that way, you might include discussion about God's gift of baptism and our acceptance of that gift for ourselves (in some churches that will be at confirmation).

Pentecost is also a great day for a mission project. Plan a church day of service in your community. Take gifts symbolizing Pentecost to share with those who are homebound, in nursing homes, or those in the hospital. Remind the children that, like the early church, we are spreading out to tell of God's love.

The end of the school year is a busy time in many churches and homes. Don't let Pentecost get lost in your church and in your Sunday school!

Prayer: 

0 God of wind and fire, we praise your name. 

Send the strength of your Holy Spirit on your church today. 

Amen

Promise of the Holy Spirit by Stephen Handy

http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/audio/entry/2903/promise-of-the-holy-spirit

Anticipating Pentecost by Kay Huggins

The story of Pentecost is one of the best known stories of the New Testament. As with the beloved stories of the Gospels— such as the Good Samaritan, the Last Supper, and the Visitation of the Magi— familiarity actually obscures rather than enhances our understanding. This text, however, comes to life when read slowly and thoughtfully. As with other good stories from Scripture, the story of Pentecost has a specific setting: a festival day in Jerusalem. Not only do the place and time set the context, but also there is a sense of anticipation related to this day. The day of Pentecost was fifty days after the festival of Passover.

Two dynamics blended to make this a popular holiday. The ancient roots of Pentecost are traced back to an agricultural celebration; the harvest of the first sheaves of barley brought joy to the people. Later, as the liturgical life of the people developed, Pentecost became a remembrance of the events on Mount Sinai, specifically the gift of the law to Moses. This blessed gift of the Ten Commandments also evoked joy. These two joyful elements increased the significance of the holiday of Pentecost; not only was God dependable, as witnessed in the first sheaves of the barley harvest, but God was also gracious, as attested to by the provision of a divine law.

Every year the nation gathered in gratitude to celebrate and remember God’s providence. On this particular year, when the day arrived, all the followers of Jesus were together, attending to their usual tasks of remembering and giving thanks.

Every year the whole nation waited in anticipation for the announcement of the actual day of Pentecost. In this particular year, when the day arrived, all the followers of Jesus were together waiting and praying. Into the quiet of prayer, a sound like a mighty wind shook the room. (Try to imagine the shock and surprise of a prayer meeting blown open!) The sound, however, was only a call to attention. Next came the vision of something like tongues of fire, and with that vision came the peculiar manifestation of foreign speech.

The formal name of this phenomenon is xenolalia, the inspired capacity to speak a foreign language. As distinct from glossolalia, the gift of speaking in spiritual tongues requiring interpretation, xenolalia is articulate speech immediately understood by those familiar with the particular language. The wind, vision, and foreign tongues were amazing; however, even more amazing was the inclusivity of God’s Spirit. All were included in the event: disciples and followers, young women and old men, as well as strangers from across the known world.

Adapted from The New International Lesson Annual Copyright © 2005 by Abingdon Press

Pentecost: God's Spirit Poured Upon the Church by Robert W. Winstead

Send out invitations, order the cake, get out the party favors, and strike up the band—the church is having a birthday! Tell everyone to wear red, for it is the Day of Pentecost, the birth of the church, and the celebration of the Holy Spirit.

Imagine entering to the sound of brass fanfare and glorious music filling the sanctuary, children waving red streamers, and the worship leaders processing through the crowd. The Paschal Candle leads the procession, followed by the cross, the Bible, and the elements of Holy Communion, placed on the altar and received as gifts.

Worship on Pentecost has many possibilities for the church. It is the great climax of the Easter-Pentecost season, for on this day we realize and remember the fullness of God’s promise in Jesus Christ, which has been the theme throughout Lent, Holy Week, and Easter. Many congregations choose to celebrate Pentecost with a festive common meal, baptisms, baptism renewal, Confirmation, and the Lord’s Supper. Regardless of worship choices, the service should focus as a witness to God who has “poured out his Spirit upon all flesh” (Acts 2:17).

Pentecost is believed to be the oldest festival in the church, dating back to the first century. The early Christians adapted the Jewish Feast of Weeks, which occurs fifty days after the Passover, commemorating Hebrew freedom from Egyptian bondage and the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses. Today, among Christian churches, Pentecost is most often celebrated fifty days after Easter, ten days after the Ascension (see Acts 1:6-11).

The story of Pentecost comes from Acts 2:1-42, as 120 worshipers, including the disciples, were fasting and praying in an upper room in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit descended upon them in a violent rushing wind. Small flames of fire rested upon their heads, and they began to speak in other languages. As crowds came to investigate the commotion, the apostle Peter spoke to them about Jesus and exhorted them to repent. From the crowd of Jews and converts, three thousand heard his message, were baptized, and became followers of Jesus.

Pentecost is a time of renewal for Christian believers. Through studying the story of Pentecost, many seek and pray for spiritual gifts for the church during this time of holy celebration. There is a renewed focus on evangelism, empowerment from the Holy Spirit, deeper intimacy with God, and fellowship. For Christians, the celebration of Pentecost imparts faith, hope, a sharing of community, and an awareness of a purpose much greater than ourselves.

Regarding scripture and sermon preparation, worship should include a retelling of the historical narrative of that noisy day among the Christian believers. As the text suggests, perhaps the sermon could focus on the question, “What does this mean?” (Acts 2:12). The service should explore the significance of the coming of the Holy Spirit to those who follow Jesus. God’s Spirit empowers the believers for the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for a united and distinctive understanding God’s message, and for the inclusion of all people within the church. In keeping with the emphases of the day, perhaps those planning worship might find individuals who could read the text aloud in several different languages.

Other scripture texts appropriate for Pentecost include passages from the Gospel of John, Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, and the book of Revelation. All readings should direct the worshiper to consider how God’s Spirit is manifest in the congregation and in the world.

Indeed, Pentecost Sunday is a day to celebrate hope, a hope born by the knowledge that God through the Holy Spirit is at work in the church. The church’s birthday calls us to consider our purpose, mission, and work as God’s people. Yet this calling is not a sober reflective time, (remember, we did that in Lent), but rather a grand and glorious gathering with smiles and laughter and praises to God!

Let’s have a party!

"Ready, Set, Go!" by Sara Webb Phillips

“Ready, Set, Go!” This could well be the beginning call as Pentecost worship gets underway, although more appropriately the words might be, “Wind, Fire, Witness!”

The Festival of Pentecost is often seen to stand on its own, but it really is the climax of the season of Easter. The focus of the day is remembering and celebrating God’s actions in Jesus Christ that now extend to the Body of Christ, the Church. Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension followed by the coming of the Holy Spirit allow this once fledgling movement to be spread across the globe through the gifts and power given for ministry. So worship on this day becomes a celebratory gathering of God’s alleluia community!

The gospel going forth to the whole world through various tongues sets a tone for how to plan our worship for this day. The various styles of what we today call “Global Music” are gifts those of us from western cultures can receive from non-western churches. Use of such music is a witness to the universal praise of the church in all its diversity and reminds us that God’s word is not encased in “King James English” or organ fanfares alone.

Easily accessible global songs from The Faith We Sing include: African tunes “Come, All You People” or “Praise, Praise, Praise the Lord” using African drums and drumming rhythms; and the Celtic “Alleluia” with flute and violin. From Global Praise 3, use the Indonesian “Haleluya! Pujilah Tuhan” with an island drum sound. Available from G.I.A. is John Bell’s translation of the lively Swedish Youth Exchange project’s Swaziland piece, We will walk with God (Sizohamba). 

Other suggestions include beginning the service outside with a brass fanfare (those do not have to be reserved for Christmas Eve). Using different lengths of flexible tubing spun around to provide a variety of tones could suggest the rushing of mysterious wind. And of course use lots of red—congregation dressed in red, red ties around the wrists, red cloth draped in various places, and red banners. This is an appropriate Sunday for baptisms, new member reception, and the classic birthday-of-the-church cake afterwards.

Whatever you do, plan for a rich local celebration befitting of God’s Spirit moving among us!

The Power of Pentecost by Paul Stroble

Celebrating Pentecost Sunday provides the occasion for Christians to recognize God’s Holy Spirit at work in the life of the church and in the lives of individuals. What is this day? Where does it originate? The word Pentecost comes from the Greek word pentecoste, which means fiftieth; and on the Christian calendar, Pentecost is the fiftieth day after Christ’s resurrection. The Jewish festival of Pentecost is also called Shavu’ot, or “weeks,” because it follows Passover by seven complete weeks.

The Christian traditions surrounding Pentecost originate in Acts 2, where the gathered disciples experience the presence and power of God’s Holy Spirit. The account speaks of a sound “like the howling of a fierce wind” and something like “individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them” (verses 2-3, CEB). The disciples were “filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak” (verse 4, CEB). In fulfillment of Christ’s promise in Acts 1:8, the disciples received power from the Holy Spirit to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ. The Christian world views this empowerment as the birth of the church.

The Holy Spirit and the Trinity

The Sunday after Pentecost Sunday is Trinity Sunday. The Nicene Creed explains the Trinity in this way: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one God in essence but three in “person” or “individual reality.” Think of a chord on a piano: There are three notes but one sound that is richer than each individual note. In the same creed, we learn that the Son is “begotten” of the Father and the Spirit “proceeds” from the Father and the Son. When we think of God this way, we affirm that God’s dynamic nature is directed toward our well-being. Through the three Persons of the Trinity, we recognize that God creates, saves, and empowers all of God’s creation.

The Spirit in the Bible

Both the Old and New Testaments offer insights into the working of God’s Spirit. The Hebrew and Greek words for “Spirit” are ruakh and pneuma, both of which can also mean “breath,” “wind,” or “air.” The words are associated with a wide range of realities in the Bible: divine energy and presence, the human core or essence, the beginning and ending of life, and demonic and angelic beings. They frequently describe the divine energy that resides in all living and breathing human beings.

The Old Testament offers insights into the creating and empowering presence of God’s Spirit. The Spirit is the source of life (Genesis 1:2; Job 33:4; Psalm 104:30). The Spirit is a teacher (Nehemiah 9:20; Job32:8; Psalm 143:10). The Spirit is God’s presence (Psalm 51:11; 139:7; Haggai 2:4-5). The Spirit interrelates with the people of Israel (Nehemiah 9:20, 30; Psalm 106:32-33; Isaiah 63:10-14; Zechariah 7:11-12). The Spirit empowers people, including artisans who work on the Tabernacle (Exodus 31:3; 35:30–36:1; 1 Chronicles 28:12). The Spirit empowers leaders such as the 70 elders, Joshua, and King Saul (Numbers 11:17, 25-29; 27:18; 1 Samuel 10:6-7, 10; 11:6; 19:18-24). The Spirit gives power to the judges of Israel (Judges 3:10; 6:34; 11:29;13:25; 14:6, 19; 15:14). The Spirit empowers prophets such as Elijah (1 Kings 18:12), Elisha (2 Kings 2:9, 13-15), Isaiah (Isaiah 48:16-17), Ezekiel (Ezekiel 2:1-3), and Micah (Micah 2:6-7) to communicate for God.

The New Testament understandings of the Spirit are consistent with those in the Old Testament. The Gospels tell us that the Spirit descends upon Jesus at his baptism (Matthew 3:16-17; Mark 1:10-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:29-34), accompanies him into the wilderness during a time of testing (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13), and empowers his ministry of teaching and healing (Luke 4:14-19). Throughout the remaining books of the New Testament, the Spirit is God’s presence and power in the lives of believers.

Spiritual Gifts

A powerful and personal way to think about the Spirit is to think about spiritual fruit and gifts. The New Testament teaches about the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. In Galatians 5:22-26, Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit, which are qualities that the Spirit gives to us and matures in us. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul lists several gifts of the Spirit. The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible notes that inverse 10 of the same chapter, Paul mentions the “discernment of spirits” (or “the ability to tell spirits apart to another,” CEB) as a spiritual gift. The problem at the church in Corinth was that certain persons had the spiritual gift of glossolalia, or “tongues,” but these people boasted in this ability. In 1 Corinthians 12–14, Paul explains that there are many spiritual gifts, including tongues, but he does not want the Corinthians to be elitist and status-conscious about such gifts. Instead, he stresses the Spirit’s freedom to give spiritual gifts, which in turn are given not for the status of a few but for the benefit and support of the whole community. For instance, in the famous 1 Corinthians 13, love is the greatest spiritual gift of all.

Some Christians who consider themselves “Pentecostal” or “charismatic” believe that the experience of the disciples in Acts 2 is normative for all Christians. They believe that although we receive the Spirit when we believe in Christ, if we really want to have the power for Christian service, we must seek out a “second work of grace,” which is “the baptism of the Holy Spirit.” Other Christians, however, understand the first Pentecost as a non-repeatable event, just like the Resurrection and Ascension. Thus, Pentecost has a permanent effect on believers. They believe the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit are in our lives in many ways, so a second work of grace is not necessary.

The Holy Spirit and Christian Life

As Christians empowered by the Holy Spirit, we grow in a desire to serve God through service and mission. That means focusing not only on spiritual growth but also works of justice and peace and service to the poor, imprisoned, and suffering. When we witness or participate in such acts, we can be certain that the Holy Spirit is at work.

The joy of the spiritual life is constantly learning about God’s grace and God’s care. John Wesley’s emphasis on God’s grace illustrates his understanding of the work of God’s Spirit throughout our lives. Prevenient grace is with us from birth and works us toward justifying grace when we are converted to the faith. With salvation comes our growth in sanctification (holiness), wherein God perfects us. Wesley believed we must continue in grace in order to enter into the kingdom of God. In all these aspects of God’s grace, the Holy Spirit works in our heart, emotions, mind, and will, helping us grow and transform. By “perfection,” Wesley does not mean we never make mistakes or that we are never weak. He means it as a growth of love for God and one another and a removal of our desire to sin. Such growth, as individual Christians and as communities of faith, illustrates the dynamic and vital presence of God’s Holy Spirit. The Spirit is both the daily presence of God and the way by which we grow as Christians. Pentecost Sunday is an excellent time to celebrate the presence of the Holy Spirit within us and within our churches.

Be sure to check out FaithLink, a weekly downloadable discussion guide for classes and small groups. FaithLink motivates Christians to consider their personal views on important contemporary issues, and it also encourages them to act on their beliefs. The complete study guide accompanying this article can be purchased here.

Rescuing Pentecost by Eric Van Meter

Pentecost is in trouble. And that means trouble for the Church.

It’s not that Pentecost is in danger of commercialization, like Christmas or even Easter. The Spirit is too indefinable to depict as a cozy manger scene, and too strange for greeting cards (“May tongues of fire consume you”?).

Nevertheless, Pentecost is in trouble—not because of some outsider trying to make a buck, but because of church leaders who have adopted the same entrepreneurial tactics. And the more we try to put the Spirit to work for us, the further we get from Pentecost truth.

The story of the Spirit’s coming and the subsequent birth of the church is found in Acts 2. It’s a breathtaking account of God’s power descending on the disciples, including the miracle of languages that enables representatives from all over the known world to hear the good news of God’s salvation.

Peter, the lead apostle, is at the center of it all. Once the furor of the spectacle dies down a bit, he preaches with a hitherto unknown power and conviction. When he is finished, three thousand people are baptized. Before long, all of them are sharing their possessions.

That’s enough to get any ambitious church leader excited. It’s the ultimate church plant, a success story of (ahem) biblical proportions. When a congregation is struggling, preachers return again and again to the power of the Spirit and the fruits it produced. We ask, why can’t we harness that power? Why can’t we be like the early church again? Why can’t this be us?

Quite simply, because it isn’t our story.

We’d like it to be. We’d like some assurance that the frantic effort we pour into church leadership will translate into the Three B's (butts, bucks, and buildings). We yearn for some assurance of success, some validation of our hard work.

But if we look for that in the Pentecost story, we won’t find it. Not if we pay attention to what the story says.

Pentecost is not a template for how church is supposed to work, but a unique event that bears witness to God’s expansive love, which includes every tribe on earth. This, like much of the Bible, is important not because of the outcomes it produced, but because of the witness it presents.

The rule for typical church life is much different, even in the world from which Acts developed. Paul’s letters—at least some of which pre-date the writing of Acts by several decades—tell of the myriad difficulties in nurturing communities of faith. These earliest bands of Christians tended to be small, poorly resourced, and often divided. It took tremendous effort just to keep them going.

But Paul seems to have considered this a worthy effort. Not once does he bemoan the fact that his churches do not measure up to some Pentecost ideal.

If Paul was aware of the Pentecost story as Luke presents it (he never references it in his letters), he did not see it as a template for how churches should grow. Neither should we.

God took some initiative at Pentecost to do something particular to that time and setting, and the universal church is blessed by it. When God does something similar in our time, the whole church can rejoice and share in that blessing. But that doesn’t mean we should try to reproduce it for ourselves, much less envy it in others. To do so only feeds our obsession with outcomes, which will blind us to the larger picture.

The success of the early church at Pentecost is not the necessary fruit of faithfulness. Rather, it’s a single stroke of bright color on a much larger canvas, one dominated by the gray areas that mark the early Christians’ struggle to follow Jesus.

If we try to replicate Acts 2, we not only set ourselves up for disappointment. We unwittingly narrow the range of what God can do with us to some ideal of our own creation. We lose the beauty and wonder of the stories God may call us to live in an effort to become what God may not intend for us to be.

To view Pentecost rightly, we have to let go of our desire to produce the same results as Peter’s preaching. We have to embrace the hard work and persistent love that characterized the majority of early Christian fellowships, and continues to be the mark of thousands of struggling congregations in our time.

Most of all, we need to adopt the posture of the disciples. They were not praying for three thousand converts, but for the Spirit to come. Their humility—not their strategy or vision or talent—paved the way for God’s work among them.

If we want to rescue Pentecost, we need a similar posture, one that invites and allows for the Spirit to work. But spectacular growth and even revival is God’s business, not ours. Ours is to love the people in front of us, to be patient with each other, to proclaim that Jesus lives and moves among us.

And to be ready, should the Spirit decide to sweep through.

Windy Day Worship by Jenny Youngman

“Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2).

Scripture: Acts 2:1-13

Theme: Pentecost, the Holy Spirit

Supplies: You’ll need a plain kite for each person and some thinline permanent markers.

Overview: The story of the first Christian Pentecost (see Acts 2:1-41) tells of how the Holy Spirit came down “like the howling of a fierce wind” and filled the apostles. The Greek word that is translated “Holy Spirit,” pneuma (NOO-muh), also means “wind” or “breath.” Help your youth experience the Pentecost story by gathering to tell it outside on a very windy day. Provide kites, on which youth will write individual prayers, and then watch their prayers soar in the wind.

Opening Words: Say something like, “We’re going to take advantage of this windy day as an opportunity to reflect on and experience the story of Pentecost. The Bible says that, on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down with ‘a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind.’ We often associate the Holy Spirit with wind. In fact, the Greek word that is translated ‘Holy Spirit,’ pneuma (NOO-muh), also means ‘wind’ or ‘breath.’ As we feel the wind on our faces today, let’s pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit to do God’s work in the world.”

Sing Praise: 

“Holy Spirit, Rain Down” (Russell Fragar) 

“Come, Holy Spirit” (Mark Foreman) 

Scripture Reading: Ask for some volunteers to take turns reading aloud the Pentecost story from Acts 2:1-13. 

Activity: Go Fly a Kite 

Talk with youth about the first Pentecost. Help them imagine the Holy Spirit coming down in such a tangible and incredible way. Ask them to imagine the feeling of being filled with the Holy Spirit in that setting and the excitement of a Christian movement being born. Ask the youth, “What would it be like if we were so filled with the Holy Spirit that thousands of people around us came to believe in Jesus?” 

Now ask the youth to reflect on these questions and thoughts as they write the Scripture verse Acts 2:2 on their individual kites, along with a brief prayer for them to be Jesus to people they meet. Before flying the kites, allow any youth who wish to read aloud their prayers. 

After youth have read aloud prayers, help students get their kites in the air (if they need help). Once everyone has their kite up and flying, read aloud Acts 2:1-13 again as their prayers reach upward. Then allow youth to have some fun simply running around and flying their kites. 

Closing: As you prepare to leave, gather together and pray, asking God to fill your group with the Holy Spirit and to give all of you the strength, the courage, and the faith to tell the world about God’s love and salvation in Jesus Christ.

This worship experience is an excerpt from the new book Worship Feast: Outdoors, by Jenny Youngman.

What Happened on Pentecost? by Jacqui King

http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/audio/entry/1319/what-happened-on-pentecost

In many Christian churches, Pentecost Sunday is celebrated to recognize the gift of the Holy Spirit, realizing that God’s very life, breath and energy lives in believers. During this service, John 20:19-23 may be the core of the message about our risen Savior supernaturally appearing to the fear-laden disciples.

The celebration of Pentecost Sunday reminds us of the reality that we are all have the unifying Spirit that was poured out upon the first century church in Acts 2:1-4. It is a reminder that we are co-heirs with Christ, to suffer with Him that we may also be glorified with Him; that the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7); that we are all baptized by one Spirit into one body (1 Corinthians 12:13); and that the Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead lives inside believers (Romans 8:9-11). This gift of the Holy Spirit that was promised and given to all believers on the first Pentecost is promised for you and your children and for all who are far off whom the Lord our God will call (Acts 2:39).

Jacqui King is the pastor of First United Methodist Church in College Station, TX.

A Quiet Pentecost by Dwight Judy

Author Dwight Judy

Publisher UPPER ROOM

Publication Date 2/2013

Binding Book - Paperback

ISBN 9780835811996

Retail Price $16.00

Discount Price $10.88 (32% discount)

Over the past 30 years, a quiet revolution has taken place in Christian life, says Dwight Judy. Many “small Pentecosts” are happening across the church as people of all ages discover the power of spiritual formation practices such as daily prayer, meditative reading of scripture, walking a labyrinth, spiritual direction, and more. Judy weaves together stories and spiritual practices from more than 40 congregations that testify to the Holy Spirit’s power at work—the quiet Pentecost that is revolutionizing these churches. This book links spiritual formation practices with evangelism and includes a guide for churches that want to start a spiritual formation ministry.

What Is Pentecost?

Author / Compiler (Internal) Marcia Stoner

Publisher Abingdon Press

Publication Date 12/2011

Binding Book - Paperback

ISBN 9781426717048

Retail Price $2.99

Helps tweens understand what Pentecost is and it's significance to Christian faith. 

Using fun but challenging activities and puzzles, tweens learn the basics of what Pentecost is and what the season means during worship. The convenient size will fit nicely inside their Bible.

Pastors and Christian educators will feel confident in recommending a resource that has the biblical scholarship and educational appropriateness for which Abingdon is known. 

A FREE downloadable Teacher's Guide is available at Cokesbury.com (ISBN 9781426746277) or by clicking here.

PowerXpress Pentecost Download (Entire Unit)

Publisher Abingdon Press

Publication Date 2/2011

Binding Digital Media

ISBN 9781426739590

Retail Price $109.99

Pentecost Download.  This is for the entire unit (eight stations).

Click here for a free sample of this unit!

Main Idea

Through the Holy Spirit, we know God is with us, helping us live as faithful disciples.

Unit Description

The Pentecost unit uses the Bible story included in Acts 2:1-42. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came to the disciples and to the believers in Jesus. The disciples and many believers were gathered in a house when the Holy Spirit came to them in the form of wind and flames. People outside the house who heard the noise commented and laughed derisively. Peter then spoke to the crowd and told them about Jesus. Three thousand people became believers and were baptized.

Scripture: Acts 2:1-42

Objectives

Children will:

hear the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost;

identify how the Holy Spirit empowered the disciples;

understand that we are empowered by the Holy Spirit;

define the Holy Spirit as "God with us now";

learn that the Holy Spirit can be present in our lives too;

explore the meaning of "believe";

understand why we celebrate Pentecost as the birthday of the church.…

The Holy Spirit & Preaching by James Forbes

Author James Forbes

Publisher Abingdon Press

Publication Date 5/1989

Binding Book - Paperback

ISBN 9780687173099

Retail Price $16.99

Discount Price $11.04 (35% discount)

Describes what it means to be anointed with the Spirit so that one can preach "to raise the dead."

In The Holy Spirit and Preaching, James A. Forbes, Jr.--widely hailed as one of the nation's foremost preachers--offers four dynamic lectures originally delivered as the Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale University, the most prestigious annual preaching event in the United States.

In each of the lectures, Forbes focuses on the Holy Spirit as it relates to preaching.  He traces the Holy Spirit's activity in Jesus' ministry and looks at the impact of being anointed by the Holy Spirit.  Forbes demonstrates how the Holy Spirit works with the pastor in the preparation and delivery of a sermon.  The Holy Spirit and Preaching concludes by focusing on the need for anointed preaching, and the way anointed preaching happens today.

Introduction

From Abingdon New Testament Commentary

General Editor Victor Paul Furnish

Publisher Abingdon Press

Publication Date 9/2011

Binding E-Book

ISBN 9781426750205

Retail Price $507.50

Discount Price $149.00 (71% discount)

This item is available for a one-time purchase individually, or as part of a Ministry Matters Premium Subscription.

The Abingdon New Testament Commentaries, series offers compact, critical commentaries on the writings of all of the New Testament.  In addition to providing fundamental information on and incisive insights into New Testament writings, these commentaries exemplify the tasks and procedures of  careful, critical exegesis for informed engagement with the biblical texts. These commentaries are written with special attention to the needs and interests of theology students, as well as for pastors and other church leaders.

INTRODUCTION

From Abingdon New Testament Commentary

General Editor Victor Paul Furnish

Publisher Abingdon Press

Publication Date 9/2011

Binding E-Book

ISBN 9781426750205

Retail Price $507.50

Discount Price $149.00 (71% discount)

This item is available for a one-time purchase individually, or as part of a Ministry Matters Premium Subscription.

The Abingdon New Testament Commentaries, series offers compact, critical commentaries on the writings of all of the New Testament.  In addition to providing fundamental information on and incisive insights into New Testament writings, these commentaries exemplify the tasks and procedures of  careful, critical exegesis for informed engagement with the biblical texts. These commentaries are written with special attention to the needs and interests of theology students, as well as for pastors and other church leaders.

Introduction

From The New Testament in Context Series

Publisher ABINGDON PRESS

Publication Date 1/2012

Binding Miscellaneous

ISBN 301530

This item is available through subscription only

The New Testament in Context Series includes:

Church and Community in Crisis: Pastoral Letters

To Every Nation Under Heaven: Acts

Power in Weakness: 2 Corinthians

Friendship and Finances in Philippi: Philippians

Embassy of Onesimus: Philemon

Community of the Wise: James

Fallen is Babylon: Revelation

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

General Editor Katharine Doob Sakenfeld

Publisher Abingdon Press

Publication Date 4/2011

Binding E-Book

ISBN 9781426741845

Retail Price $409.99

Discount Price $266.49 (35% discount)

This item is available for a one-time purchase individually, or as part of a Ministry Matters Premium Subscription.

This digital version makes the content of The New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible truly portable and fully searchable! Search by Book of the Bible, Article Title, Article Body, Contributor, Illustration and more.

The most complete coverage of theological topics

This dictionary is the definitive starting point for research on any topic, place or person in the Bible, with emphasis on the crucial theological concepts. Based on the NSRV.

Unparalleled quality of information

Written by 900 scholars, experts in their fields, from 40 nations and a variety of perspectives and diverse theological commitments.

Totally new entries

7100 fresh, original articles. Also contains 1300 distinct cross-reference entries.

Balanced and relevant content

For any pastor, rabbi, preacher, teacher, or student who is preparing to serve the congregation. Theological content and thorough discussion of various interpretations is tailored for congregational use.

It will become your most trusted companion!

Temptation (video) by David Dorn

<iframe width="620" height="349" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/f1fIQd0EwjE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

People who fall to temptation know very little about how hard it is to resist. Check out how a quote by C.S. Lewis has made me think. 

Rolling a Joint, a Metaphor for a Nation Losing Its Way by Tom Ehrich 

(RNS) I am sweating on the treadmill when a young man walks onto the patio outside my window, sits at a table and spreads out his drug paraphernalia.

He folds a piece of white paper to form a work surface. He measures a brown, leafy substance onto the paper, then, using a subway fare card, mixes in a white powder.

Next he puts half of his pile into a cigarette paper and carefully rolls it into cylinder shape. Now he rolls the other half. Both joints go into a plastic medicine bottle.

Off he goes down a stairway, pausing to light up, then on to his apartment in an adjacent building.

All this in full view of 11 floors of apartments and two exercisers in the fitness room. He looks my way from time to time to make sure I am watching.

It strikes me that he has made two calculations. The legal calculation is that he won’t get caught, and if he did get caught in a system that pays little attention to marijuana use, he would skate. Actions that have no consequences soon become routine.

The moral calculation is that not a single one of the people around him matters at all. The children who might be watching his joint-rolling — who cares? The people who are stretching to make rent payments here in the belief that this is a safe haven — who cares? His own family nearby trying to help him grow up — who cares? His own health and character — who cares?

This is the casual face of anomie, the breakdown of moral guidance and resulting alienation from society. It also has elements of narcissistic personality disorder.

So what? It’s his life to ruin. Yes, I see that. But in watching his legal and moral calculations, I am seeing the dysfunction of our national political leadership, where saying anything is OK, true or not, helpful or not, if it positions oneself for gain. I am seeing the corruption of many corporate systems, where whatever doesn’t actually land you in jail is OK, where giant companies make overseas acquisitions in order to evade taxes at home.

I am seeing the increasingly shrill and outlandish voices of the religious right, who sense they are losing the culture wars and want to shriek loudly as they go down.

I am seeing companies get regulatory approval for mergers by promising not to lay off employees or to engage in anti-competitive practices and then break those promises as bad for profits.

I am seeing athletes dope themselves and then deny and deny and deny; get caught, and skulk away. I am seeing parents game systems for the benefit of their children, without regard to social impact, like the well-heeled parent who bullied my son’s school into ignoring his daughter’s brazen cheating.

In a way, this young man making joints is the poster child for a nation that is losing its way. Freedom cannot survive such disregard for the rights of others. Democracy cannot survive such delusions of self-importance.

The ethical calculations we should be making are what benefits the other: Does my behavior bring light or darkness to the world we share; am I making healthy, if inconvenient, choices, because in the end healthy choices build up society?

Copyright © 2014 Religion News LLC

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