From the Pastor’s Heart
On the Sunday of Pentecost, we celebrate God’s giving the gift of the Holy Spirit. In our worship, our learning and our serving, we see God’s Spirit in action. The faithful can feel the power of God’s love as the Spirit comes like the rush of a violent wind, stirring the hearts and minds of God’s people. These are the themes of Pentecost; the power of God’s Spirit blowing through the lives of God’s people, calling them to share the gospel in faith, hope and love.
There are several traditions within the Church surrounding the day of Pentecost, yet Pentecost is not about wearing your red dress or shirt to worship. It is not about confirming our youth as they complete their initial study of the catechism. It’s about the Holy Spirit of God blowing in the doors of the hearts and minds of God’s people, rearranging the furniture of our lives and filling us with all the confidence, strength, excitement and assurance the disciples had in order to share the good news of God’s re-demption
Think about the world around you. Think about the things you have heard and seen. Think about all the times in your life when you thought you were at your wit’s end. So many others have faced the same obstacles in life. The world needs to hear this good news of great joy. In so many ways and in so many instances, God makes his presence and power known. He is revealed in ways so clear that no matter what, people can feel the power of his presence, realizing God’s mercy and grace are real and that his love lasts forever.
This is exciting stuff folks. This is the stuff of which books of biblical proportion are written. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is the best news you are ever going to receive in your life. The times you first realized God’s grace is for you, that you have been rescued from the consequences of sin forever is as good as it can possibly get.
When you are young, prom is a big moment. Some of us know kids who have recently gone to their first prom. Guess what, as good as the prom was, God claiming you to be his child is better. When you get older, graduation comes with all of its pomp and circumstance. Guess what, it can’t compare with all the glory of heaven. There are still bigger moments ahead in your lives. College, your first real love, engagement, marriage, the purchase of a home, and the birth of a child. You know what? All of these are blessings from a loving God, yet because of Christ Jesus, the best is yet to come.
People of God, all of these are wonderful events; they are milestone moments, monumental achievements, and times of great joy. But if these are truly the most important times in your life, you’ve missed the mark. None of these can even compare with the fact that through Christ Jesus, God has saved you from sin and death, made you holy in his sight and prepared a heavenly home for you. Nothing can compare with the fact that through Christ Jesus, God has saved your life for all time. That is good news; that is exciting.
My prayer this Pentecost is that God stirs our congregation to such faithfulness that we cannot help but share the gospel of Christ Jesus, and that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we experience the disciples’ joy, living in the fullness of God’s grace, loving our neighbor and extending our Savior’s love to all who are in need.
Come Holy Spirit. Stir up the hearts of your
faithful, and kindle in us the fire of your love. Amen.
To God be the glory, now and forever.
Pastor David Nuottila
