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Acts 2 The Easter season closes with the Feast of Pentecost, at which we recognize and give thanks for God's gift of the Spirit to the church. The color for the day is red, to remind us of the tongues of flames in the story of Acts 2. The name for this feast comes from the Greek name for the Jewish Festival of Weeks, a harvest festival that was celebrated 50 days after Passover. It was a time to give thanks to God for the first wheat harvest of the year, and to offer back in thanksgiving the first fruits of the earth. The people who heard Peter's sermon in Luke's account in the book of Acts had gathered in Jerusalem for this celebration. Christians appropriated both the festival and its timing. What better way to recognize the gift of the Holy Spirit, and all that changed because of it, than to do so on a festival of first fruits. Indeed, the first fruits of the resurrection were the thousands who were added to the community that day. Other New Testament authors describe the gift of God's Spirit to the church in different ways, but all are agreed on this: Jesus is risen, and God is at work among us and in the world with a power that is relentless and unstoppable. |
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