Fifty-one days ago Jesus was dead in a tomb.
Fifty days ago God rasied Jesus from the dead.
The following forty days was like Jesus: The Resurrection Tour. He travelled around appearing to people to show he was alive. Ten days ago he left his disciples on a mountain top outside Jerusalem. He told them to go back to the house and sit tight because a few days later he'd send his advocate to them.
Today he did just that.
A sound like a hurracaine filled the place, like an express train thundering around them; something like fire spread across the room and just seemed to rest on them. Suddenly they could speak in foreign languages - they hadn't learned them, they weren't academics or linguists, the Holy Spirit gave them the words to say and they just said them. They couldn't contain themselves and burst out into the street causing havoc - a holy hullaballoo! (I love that word!)
They started talking about Jesus to anyone and everyone; the locals, the foreigners, tourists, business men on their way to work, men, women, children, anyone who would listen...
And so the Church was born.
3,000 people joined the Church that day. The believed Jesus died and was raised to life. They apologise for living self centred lives, for looking after number-one, and said they would live for Jesus from now on. They were baptised to publicly show the change in their lives. Things were different now.
2,000 or so years later, that movement, that inclusive community of people is still around. It looks very different now, lots of different styles and traditions but ultimately the purpose is the same. To tell people that Jesus died for them and was raised from the dead. That if they apologise for living self centred lives, for looking after number-one, and say they would live for Jesus from now on, they are saved and they too can have the Holy Spirit.
This is my fiftieth blog. It seems fitting that it lands on Pentecost, the day the Spirit first came to inspire the Church to do great things... and I don't think he's finished with us just yet!
Happy Holy Spirit Day.
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