The Church’s Birthday
Scripture: Acts 2:1–21
Main Takeaway: Pentecost is the church's birthday — and the gifts God gave that day are still available to us now.
When I was four years old, my parents threw me a huge birthday party in Calhoun Falls. Every kid in town must have been invited — about fifty children running around, playing games for hours, eating cupcakes and chips and sodas. My father gave out candy to the game winners. I wanted some of that candy, but he kept it for the winners.
Then came the gifts. Present after present. After opening about three, I wanted to start playing with them. But my mother, who was keeping track of who gave what, told me I had to open them all first. I was mad. I wanted to play with all of them right then. Later I realized she was right. For the next year I was able to pick out a few new toys each month. My birthday presents kept providing joy for a long time.
Today is the anniversary of Pentecost — often called the church's birthday. Pentecost is the day when the gift of the Holy Spirit is given for all. Like my big birthday party, the invitation list at Pentecost was extraordinary. Everyone was there — Galileans, Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Romans, and Arabs. People were having such a good time they were thought to be drunk. But they were not drunk. They had just received the most amazing party favors of all: prophecy, visions, and dreams.
One must understand that the languages spoken by the Christian believers on Pentecost are not the same as the gift of spiritual tongues which Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians 12–14. The purpose of the gift of tongues is to empower Christian ministry to other believers for the purpose of Christian formation. The purpose of the foreign languages in Acts 2 is so that the message of salvation of Jesus Christ can be told to others in their native languages.
What does Pentecost mean to us today? Most of what happens at a child's birthday party is centered on dreams, visions, and hopes for that child. When I was four my parents had dreams for me. The gifts I received represented hope for the future. Set before me was a table of gifts for me to choose. At Pentecost the table was set before us. We may have the ability to choose the objects before us, but it is God who sets the table. What does God envision for us? Sons and daughters will prophesy. The young will see visions. The elders will dream dreams. Servants, men and women, will have the Spirit poured onto them. Wonders will occur and all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
The good news is that we really do not have to choose. Like my mother, God the good parent will make our gifts available to us over time. It is all made available to us, no matter what our gender, age, or status. This Pentecostal event — the Spirit poured out among the people — grounds us in the past with the words of Joel and launches us into the future with the call to dream dreams and see visions.
The Spirit that was present at Pentecost is the same Spirit that is present with us now. We are connected to that same call to live out a faithful life in which dreams and visions may soar. And these dreams and visions are not meant to be dreamt alone but in a diverse community united in the Spirit.
God is alive and present today through us who have accepted his salvation and are full of the Holy Spirit.
