Dear Christ Church,
The church calendar helps us to live each year through the cycle of the story of Jesus and the Church. Today we are still in the season of Eastertide, but this Sunday that changes as we celebrate Pentecost Sunday. The season of Pentecost is also known as “Ordinary Time,”and is the longest season of the year, taking us all the way to Advent. After the dramatic events of the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, the promised Spirit descends upon the first disciples in an upstairs room in Jerusalem, marking the birth of the Church.
I’ve found, over the years, that I can’t choose between calling this longest season “Pentecost” and “Ordinary Time”; they both say something vital about time. “Pentecost” reminds me that even in my weakest moments and most languid days, within me resides the Spirit of God, the same source of power that resurrected Jesus. The very power of life at the center of the universe has been poured into me. On the other hand, “Ordinary Time” emphasizes that most of the time life is not extraordinary; rather, it’s in the little things, the common things, and the daily encounters I have with others that I live most of my life. And it’s in those moments that I love my neighbor more or less, that I become more or less like Jesus, and that I practice the presence of God.
In that upstairs room two thousand years ago, after the Spirit of God was poured out upon the disciples in Jerusalem–on that very day, Peter proclaimed the message of new life in Jesus, and three thousand people believed. Throughout the book of Acts, whenever the Spirit fills someone, bold proclamation of the gospel follows. Next weekend, our Guatemala mission team leaves to join our partners on the ground, The Potter’s House, in God’s mission. Please join me in prayer for their witness, formation, and team cohesion in the weeks to come!
Peace,
Cliff+