Pentecost:
The final Sunday of Easter season, celebrated as Pentecost, was adopted by early Christians to commemorate the first great harvest of believers for Christ. (Acts 2:1-41). Thus, Pentecost is the birthday of the Christian Church, as the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, and they gave their compelling witness about the resurrected Lord. Pentecost is a day of joy in the gifts of the Spirit as He still reaches into our lives, just as He did to the crowds on that first Pentecost: through the apostolic preaching of God’s Word and Holy Baptism.
The Time of The Church:
Jesus told His disciples, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and i in him it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5)
We are each grafted into Jesus and made a branch of the vine by the power of the Spirit in Holy Baptism. We stay connected to Jesus, our vine, by hearing the preaching of God’s Word and receiving Absolution and the Lord’s Supper. This how our life in Christ grows: by the power of the Spirit working in our hearts through Word and Sacrament. The Sundays after Pentecost make up the longest portion of the Church-the time we focus on growing together in the life of the Holy Trinity.
God, we rejoice in being chosen by You. In Jesus’ name. Amen