The Day of Pentecost John B. Valentine
Acts 2:1-13 May 24, 2026

“THE PURPOSE OF PENTECOST”

Okay ... folks! It’s Memorial Day weekend ... and that means ... at least this year ... that it’s the start of “Finals Week” for our local high schoolers.

So ... in solidarity with those studious students ... let’s start things off today with a little ‘pop quiz’!

No need to shout out ... just answer in your head ...

• First question ... “On what day of the year does the Christian Festival known as ‘Christmas’ fall?”

• Second question ... “On what day of the year does the Christian Festival known as ‘Easter’ fall?”

• Final question ... “On what day of the year does the Christian Festival known as ‘Pentecost’ fall?”

Lock in you answers ... and then we’ll check our work.

First question ... “On what day of the year does the Christian Festival known as ‘Christmas’ fall?”

The answer to that one is pretty obvious ... I suspect ... to most of us. “December 25th” ... right??? It’s even locked in as such on the Federal calendar.

Second question ... “On what day of the year does the Christian Festival known as ‘Easter’ fall?”

The answer to that one is a bit trickier.

• “Some Sunday in March or April”???.
• “The Sunday after Passover”???
• “Whenever Pastor John tells me it is”???

None of those answers would be wrong ... but they’re not exactly right.

No ... the correct answer is “the first Sunday after the first ‘ecclesiastical’ full moon after the vernal equinox” ...

Which means that Easter moves around on the calendar ... always on a Sunday ... occurring as early as March 22nd and as late as April 25th.

And finally ... to the question of “On what day of the year does the Christian Festival known as ‘Pentecost’ fall?” ...

The correct answer is .......... TODAY???

+ + + + +

Actually ... we’ll get back to that in just a minute ... but ... first ... we should probably take a moment to consider the premise of that question ....

That there are THREE great Festivals on the Church calendar to begin with!

I mean ... most of us probably couldn’t imagine having a year go by without celebrating Christmas and Easter.

It is generally accepted that being a Christian means acknowledging in some way ... great or small ... those two events.

• Christmas being that celebration of the birth of Jesus and the beginning of his ministry here on earth ... and

• Easter being the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus and God’s ultimate victory over sin and death.

If ... for some reason ... I were to tell you that we weren’t going to observe Christmas and/or Easter anymore ... you might fairly object that we were turning our backs on that which is central to our faith.

And besides ... what would all of our “C and E” members do???

• Could you imagine going a whole year without hearing about there being “no room in the inn” or shouting “Christ is risen ... he is risen indeed”?

• Could you imagine NOT ever seeing our sanctuary decorated with red poinsettias or white Easter lilies?

• Could you imagine NOT singing “Silent Night” or “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today”?

But then there’s this third festival ... this third great day ... this third sacred event ... that is just as central to our understanding of what it means to be a Christian and what it means to belong to the church ... Pentecost ...

And not only do we not really so much celebrate it ... we don’t really even know very much about it!

+ + + + +

Actually ... if you want the correct answer to the quiz question “When is Pentecost?” ... you need look no further than the word ‘Pentecost’.

You see ... in Greek ... the word ‘Pentecost’ means ‘fiftieth day’ ... and it was the ancient name of the first of the “harvest festivals” on the Jewish calendar ... “the fiftieth day after Passover”.

And ... over time ... that label “Pentecost” has been re-purposed a bit to mean “the fiftieth day of Easter” ... “seven Sundays after Easter” or something like that.

But maybe the key question for us to focus on isn’t so much “When is Pentecost?” as it is “What is Pentecost?”

You see ... if you were paying attention during KidTalk ... you’d know that Pentecost ... “Pentecost Sunday” as it were ... is the birthday of the Church.

This so-called “Festival” is rooted in that story which Donald read for us a little bit ago. ... about how the Holy Spirit filled that room wherein Jesus’ first friends and followers were meeting ... and changed their hearts and their lives and their life-directions forever.

Pentecost is this moment wherein the paradigm changes!

• It’s about a shift in the orientation of the Church from “that which God is doing for us through Jesus” to “that which God is doing in the world through us” ....

• It’s a declaration that ... nineteen-hundred-ninety-six years ago ... the Holy Spirit was poured out upon God’s people ... that same Spirit that has been at work in the world ever since ...

• It’s this amazing affirmation that ... as of Pentecost ... “the Church” ... i.e. “The people of God” ... i.e. “Folks like you and me” ... get equipped to do the work of God ... that we are instruments ... and instrumental ... in God’s global restoration project.

Now ... granted ...

• There are no beloved “Pentecost carols” or “Pentecost cards” ....

• There is no “Pentecost tree” or “Pentecost bunny” ...

• There are no “Pentecost sales” over at Broadway Plaza ...

• No flowers or plants particularly identified as signifying Pentecost ...

• Not even a standard menu for family meals on this festival day ...

But the fact that we haven’t embraced the spirit of the holiday doesn’t mean that it doesn’t matter ...

Because Pentecost is this grand assertion that we are no longer simply spectators in the work of salvation .... but that we have a part to play in that work!

+ + + + +

So Bethany got back from a visit with some of our grandkids back in Colorado earlier this week ... and among the numerous items on which she had to report was the status of our two Colorado grandsons as pertains to the kitchen.

Apparently ...

• One of them believes that the kitchen is a participant zone. He’s forever making smoothies and sandwiches and the like ... trying out all sorts of new combinations of things ... some of which kind of make me cringe ... and generating LOTS of dirty dishes ...

Meanwhile ...

• The other of them believes that the kitchen is a spectator zone ... such that he’ll walk into the kitchen at all hours ... scan the seen for the nearest available adult ... or his brother for that matter ... and proceed to ‘place his order’ for this, that or the other food item in the expectation that it will just appear.

Now ... granted ... as Bethany related to me that bit of news ... it was greeted on my part with more than a few eye-rolls and head-shakes and sighs of exasperation.

After all ... kitchens are designed to be participant zones ... not spectator zones ... and ... sure ... there are sometimes going to be some dirty dishes ...

But ... really ... don’t you just want to say “Tell him to make it himself”?!?!?

Funny thing is ... in the days since Bethany first related to me that story ...

I’ve caught myself wondering ... time and again ... if there weren’t and aren’t a whole lot of heavenly eye-rolls and head-shakes and sighs of exasperation and the like as regards Christians all over the world and our living out our calling to be at work for good in God’s world.

I mean ...

• It’s one thing to watch while somebody else does all the work.
• It’s another matter entirely to be engaged in the work yourself.

But being engaged in that work is precisely what God called and empowered the Church to be about on that first “Day of Pentecost” ... and every single day since.

+ + + + +

And what exactly IS the work of the Spirit? What is that work in which we’re both empowered and expected to be about???

Actually ... why don’t you take up your bulletins for just a minute and let’s go back to the words of our Opening Litany ... that bit called “Called to Be Church”.

We first used this a number of years ago in the context of worship as part of a slow walk we were doing through the Book of Acts one summer...

As a way to remind ourselves as to what the Spirit called the earliest Christian communities to be about.

But Acts isn’t just an account of what happened in days now past .... no .... it’s also an invitation to get involved in the work of the Spirit yet today!

So let’s read those words responsively one more time ... and maybe hear them as our own commissioning even now ...

The last time Jesus was with His disciples, he told them: "When the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world."

So we pray, ‘Come, Holy Spirit.'

And the Spirit came among them.

And they began to speak to their neighbors about the amazing love of God.

And the Spirit stayed among them.

And they devoted themselves to learning and fellowship, to worship and prayer.

And the Spirit wove them together.

And they supported one another as they could, and were thankful for what they had.

The Spirit called them into action.

To speak the truth and to speak for God.

The Spirit challenged their assumptions.

And their eyes were opened to new possibilities.

The Spirit invited them to journey.

And wherever they went, they spoke of the mighty acts of God.

May the same Spirit which called, gathered, enlightened and sanctified those first Christians be present with us.

For we pray, ‘Come, Holy Spirit.'

+ + + + +

After all ... folks ... what was the third question of that pop quiz I hit you with a little bit ago?

"On what day of the year does the Christian Festival known as ‘Pentecost' fall?" ...

The correct answer is ...... TODAY ... and EVERY DAY ... for Pentecost means that we’re not in the spectator zone anymore!