Notes from the Pulpit

PASTOR’S NOTES

What does Pentecost mean to you? I suspect it means one of a number of possibilities. First, it is a reminder of some magical story from long ago where strange things happened that we cannot possibly understand. Second, it might be understood by you as the birthday of the Church. It was on the Pentecost after the Resurrection that the Spirit came and the Church was born. This is true, but it places Pentecost in the ancient past.

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Easter is the season of new beginnings, of the unexpected surprise, of wonder, and of grace. Those of us who have been Christians know this. We observe and remember this every year. Yet isn’t it interesting how we even use the occasion of Easter as a time of “doing the same old thing.” We get caught in the trap of holding on to the tradition even when the tradition is the unexpected surprise. Leslie Weatherhead’s question is as relevant now as it was years ago when he first asked “Which side of Easter do you live on?” Are we stuck in the old or open to the new thing God is doing?…has already done?

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