Pentecost Eve

Lessons for Pentecost Eve:

Exodus 19:1-9  Psalm 113   Romans 8:12-27  St. John 14:8-21

From a Pentecost Sermon by Pr. Hermann Sasse, preached in Erlangen, Germany, 1940: 

 “…Pentecost is the celebration of a different Spirit,-a Spirit that is something entirely different  than the spirit of creatures, the spirit of men and their creation…

Men who were filled with the Holy Spirit were by no means particular heroes of faith. It was quite to the contrary. We remind  ourselves  of what was said about this in the sermon for Easter, and the Ascension Epistle. It is not written anywhere in the Bible that Andrew, Thomas, Bartholomew, and Simon the Zealot believed more, hoped more, or had more love than other Christians. And still, “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance” [Acts 2:4].

“…there does seem to be a requirement for the reception of the Spirit. “They were all together  in one place” [Acts 2:1]. That is what it says at the beginning of this story. They had to be together in order for Pentecost to happen. If each remained in  their own house, each in their own rooms, there would not have been a Pentecost. Also, on the day of Christ’s ascension it was already said: “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer [and supplication]” (Acts 1:14). And what is here a prerequisite for Pentecost is also a consequence of Pentecost, an effect by the Holy Spirit. “And [they were] day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes” (Acts 2: 46). (emphasis added)

About Pentecost: The miracle of Pentecost is not merely a past historical event. The Spirit’s wondrous activity goes on in the Church today.

The  Church has observed this day as one of the most important festivals of the year. But unlike Christmas or Easter, Pentecost doesn’t have the cultural attachments that remind us of its significance, like Christmas or Easter. Without cultural traditions behind it, we may wonder how to celebrate Pentecost. Why do we observe Pentecost at all?

   The Church celebrates the Festival of Pentecost as the fulfillment and conclusion of the Easter season. The name Pentecost, meaning “the fiftieth day,” originally referred to the Jewish Festival of Weeks, the time of thanksgiving for first fruits and the ingathering of the harvest (cf. Ex. 34:22).

   In the liturgical worship of the first fruits,

“…the farmers would present their baskets before the priests in the temple courts.  Each farmer would step forward and say the liturgy of recitation (Dt. 26:3: ‘I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’). He would remove the basket from his shoulder and tip it toward the priest.  The priest took hold of the basket and the two of them swayed it back and forth as a “wave” offering. Then the farmer would recite in Hebrew, “A wandering Aramean was my father…” (Dt. 26: 5-10)  He would leave the basket, bow before the Lord, and make way for the next farmer.

   “But a controversy arose about the recitation. The priest would  have to lead the people who could not speak Hebrew. He would say a part in Hebrew, and the person making the offering would repeat it. This apparently embarrassed people. They stopped bringing their offering.  As a result, the priests decided that they would lead all the people in the recitation whether or not they knew Hebrew. In this way, they continued to receive everyone’s offering but also retained Hebrew as the language of temple services.” (Lutheran Study Bible)

 Now all those Jews, from those many countries cited in Acts 2, could now hear the mighty deeds of God in their own language as the Holy Spirit was the translator and become themselves the first fruits of Christ by faith and Baptism.

The Christian Church retained the name of Pentecost to mark the completion of the 50-day period after Easter—and the first in-gathering of believers into the Church.  The Pentecost Season is the longest one in the Church, this year ending on November 20, The Last Sunday of the Church Year-the 24^th Sunday after Pentecost. The color is green during the Sundays after Pentecost, as in growing in faith and love.  Today it is red for the fire of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The color red is also color for the martyrs, but it does not stand for their blood, but their faithful witness in the Holy Spirit to Jesus Christ to encourage our faithful witness to Christ the Lord.

Almighty and ever-living God, You fulfilled Your promise by sending the gift of the Holy Spirit to unite disciples of all nations in the cross and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus Christ. By the preaching of the Gospel spread this gift to the ends of the earth; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.