This
past Sunday, Pentecost was celebrated in many Christian churches. It is the day
we commemorate the coming of the Holy Spirit. You can read all about it in Acts
2.
It
was on Pentecost that Jesus fulfilled His promise that he would send another
Counselor—the Spirit of Truth—to come to the disciples. (John 14.15) It was
this Spirit that would give them the ability to stand up in the face of
persecution with the same gumption and character as Jesus did. And on that fateful
morning, just a little more than a month past Easter, a mighty wind swept
across the hearts of those who believed in Jesus and brought forth life. The
winds of change had blown!
And
did the winds of change blow! Looking at Acts 2, we read about a particular
disciple named Peter. You might remember Peter. He is the one who swore that
wherever Jesus went, he would follow—even to death. This is the same Peter who
denied knowing Jesus three times. Well, on Pentecost, this impetuous cowardly
Peter stood up and proclaimed, “Salvation comes no
other way; no other name [Jesus] has been or will be given to us by which we
can be saved, only this one.” (Acts 4.12,
MSG) Peter was infused with the Holy Spirit’s power and the change it brought
in his life brought about a change for the rest of the world!
The Spirit’s winds of change can blow in our lives, too.
The Spirit fills us with God’s power enabling us to stand in the face of
persecution; to go places to spread God’s glory we otherwise would not go; and
to give us glimpses of glory divine, eternal in the heavens.
“Lutheran
pastor Dan Mangler tells the story of a Shetland sheepdog his family owned
named, Amber. He recalls that Amber loved windy days, and no matter how windy
it was she would stand on their front lawn, face the direction that the wind
was coming from, put her nose up in the air ... and immediately enter doggy
heaven.
She
was oblivious to anything else going on around her, and Mangler thinks he knows
why: It was the smells that the wind brought her. Her movements were, for the
most part, confined to the house or yard, so the wind was, for her, a sumptuous
blessing.
The
wind brought her experiences of a world beyond her powers to visit, including
the smells of a dozen kinds of trees and hundreds of wildflowers, of squirrels
and rabbits, of pigs and cows. ‘There is in that example, I think, a picture of
Pentecost,’ writes Mangler. ‘Pentecost is the wind that brings us experiences
of a world beyond our powers to visit.’ May we all experience such a
visitation!”[i]
How
are the winds of change blowing in your life? Are you finding yourself infused
with power to stand against the naysayers of God? Are you finding yourself with
the powerful desire to go places and share the glory of God where you otherwise
would not go? Or are you like Amber, finding yourself given glimpses of glory
divine, outside of yourself in places where only God can lead?
The
winds of change are blowing! Where are they blowing you? Happy Pentecost and
may the power of the Spirit be with you always!
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