Sunday 31 May 2020
Pastor - Rev. Elroy Christopher: First Moravian Church of Georgia
A Meditation for Pentecost
The account of the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts chapter 2, tells that the disciples were together when the Holy Spirit descended upon them like a violent wind. They saw what appeared to be tongues of fire, separating and descending upon each of them. The Holy Spirit empowered them in an unusual way. They began to speak in tongues or different languages. There was amazement among those who were gathered. Having come from various countries, each heard and understood the message in their own language. Some asked ‘what does this mean?’ Others mocked them saying that they were drunk. Whatever they thought, we know that the day marked the beginning of a new phase of human history. It a day that marks the birth of the Church. on that day, Peter preached his first sermon.
Pentecostal experiences continue to occur, even today. However, when things happen out of the ordinary it is not unusual to hear the question “what does this mean?” it is a question we find ourselves asking from time to time. However, what needs to be asked is, what God saying and revealing through His Holy spirit as we experience things like the Corona pandemic, and the number of deaths resulting from it? What is the word for those persons who have lost their jobs, leaving them to seek food aid and other forms of assistance? Such are the questions that need to be asked with each tragic act of violence and violent death from whichever quarter. It is not that God causes or wills such things for His creation, but recognize that He has a message, some revelation for His people in each situation to take our people forward. We need to be attentive to what he reveals to us through leading and inspiration of His Holy Spirit.
On the day of Pentecost, God began something new in human history, intervening in the power of his Holy Spirit.
Scripture gives other instances of God’s intervention to give rise to new works among His people. One such if found in the Prophecy of Isaiah chapter 43, where, through the Prophet, God calls for Israel faithfulness. He recounted how they were delivered through the waters, while he destroyed the pursuing forces in the exodus experience. In verses 18-19 he says: ‘Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
While there is no direct mention of the Holy Spirit in this passage, the point is that when God intervenes, and we know he does so through His Holy Spirit, It is to do something new for his creation.
Like those gathered on the day of Pentecost, we must listen to what God is saying perhaps in strange ways and in the unusual circumstances exist today As a church and wider community we must become aware of the new opportunities for sharing, studying, worship,
fellowship: new opportunities for healing and restoring a broken, divided nation and world, in ways that God makes possible through his Divine intervention.
As Moravians, we recall God’s intervention on August 13, 1727 which is referred to as the Moravian Pentecost. Through His Holy Spirit, God brought together and healed a fractured community of Brethren, giving birth to the Renewed Unitas Fratrum, or Moravian Church.as we have come to know it today.
As the Holy Spirit rested upon each person on that first Day of Pentecost, so too does He rest upon and empower the church, the called-out people of God. As members of the church, we are to be open to the presence and work of the Holy Spirit among us.
At Pentecost diverse men and women heard and were touched by the message: Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs. They all heard the disciples, speaking hire various languages as empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Today, we pray for a new release of the Holy Spirit to affirm, reaffirm and empower the Church of God, not a building, but WE the people, so that together and by our personal examples, we can demonstrate love and not hatred, peace and not violence, preservation of life and property and not destruction; a new beginning where we can join hands as one people irrespective of race, color or creed ethnicity or political persuasion, and enabled by the Holy Spirit, speak truth to power, to the glory of God.
(The following prayer is from the Liturgy for Pentecost in the Moravian Book of Worship. It is designed for leader and response. I encourage each person or family to pray it, pausing after each paragraph for reflection, listen to the voice of God and be open to the leading of His Holy Spirit.)
Come, heavenly dove, and alight upon us. Anoint us to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release, recovery, and freedom to those in need.
Empower us to work for God's kingdom in such a way that life becomes a jubilee, for us and for all people.
Lift the lonely, the neglected, and the outcast. Comfort the grieving. Restore the lost. Be the advocate of the afflicted.
Teach all your people. Remind us of Jesus and lead us into all the truth.
Keep us on the edge of dynamic living, wrapped in the flames of new beginnings, and filled with power from personal renewal.
Renew your church. Fill stagnant and empty lives with the breath of God. Overcome our apathy and energize us with your engaging presence.
Give your church new vision, new hope, and the driving desire to claim.