Pentecost: A Day of Power for All People by Emilio Alvarez is the second book in the Fulness of Time series that discusses the church’s liturgical calendar. Of all of the major seasons in the church calendar, Pentecost season is lesser known and lesser observed. The Day of Pentecost is observed with special events, but, not so much the season.
Emilio reviews the historic (ancient and modern) traditions and liturgies related to Pentecost. He comes from a Pentecostal background and is now an Orthodox pastor.
Here are some of my highlighted quotes.
- Lent is inescapably about repentance,” then Pentecost is inescapably about power.
- Today, however, it seems as though believers are more focused on power apart from its pneumatological or christological context and instead have become consumed by presidential power, economic power, or military power.
- The power we need now is the power of Pentecost, which is intimately connected to the message of the good news of the Christ who lived, died, and was raised, who is proclaimed as gospel in accordance with the Scriptures, who is present in the breaking of the bread, and who is experienced still today by the power of the Holy Spirit.
- In spite of the never-ending woes of the world, every year for almost two thousand years Christians of all traditions from all over the world have gathered fifty days after Easter to commemorate, observe, and celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit.
- Interestingly, Pentecost is the oldest season of the church’s calendar year, going all the way back to the Jewish feast or festival of seven weeks.
- Another surprising fact is that Pentecost is one of three festivals (Passover, Pentecost, and Sukkot) that are considered “Pilgrim Festivals.” They are called Pilgrim Festivals because in ancient times, when the temple was in Jerusalem, Jews were required to make pilgrimage to pray at the temple on each of these festivals (Exodus 34:23).
- Pentecost is a time (as we will see) where we take each of the fifty days to travel closer and closer to the God who dwells in our hearts. We are inspired as Christian believers to take this journey day by day, equipped with our own personal experiences, biblical stories and Scriptures, prayers, and, yes, even symbolic rituals.
- Pentecost as a feast of the day by day is a time when we rediscover the joy of waiting on the promises of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a time when we celebrate not only the fulfillment of a promise but also the preparation that moves us toward that promise. It is a time when we intentionally slow down and consider living not in the future to come or the past that was but in the day-to-day present that is.
- Can a church really be Pentecostal or celebrate Pentecost without embracing the concept of a united diverse humanity as a community of the Spirit? If at Pentecost the miracle of a united culture and language transcended all human imagination, shouldn’t our local churches at Pentecost reflect the same?
- May this Pentecost season bring you power, peace, and prosperity of soul. And may you remember to live in that power as you go about living intoxicated in the light that is the newness of life in the Spirit. Amen.
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