Pentecost

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen
Traditional Christian Prayer

Pentecost is the religious celebration related historically to the Jewish feast day of Shavuot, which honors God having given Moses the 10 commandments exactly 50 days after the exodus from Egypt. Originally, Shavuot was an agricultural festival where thanks were offered for the "first fruits" of harvest in the early spring.

To Christians, Pentecost celebrates the day the Holy Ghost came down on the 120 gathered in the Upper Room at Jerusalem in the form of tongues of fire, where those present spoke in tongues alien to their own. This account is found in the Book of Acts (in the Holy Bible) at 2:1-31. Many count Pentecost as the birthday of the New Testament church.

 

 

History

According to the Holy Bible, there were gathered in an upper room of a house in Jerusalem 120 Galilean souls, when suddenly they heard the sound of a mighty rushing wind, and fiery tongues came and sat upon each one, and the Holy Ghost filled them all, and the Spirit enabled each to speak with other tongues.

Evidently, the sound of the mighty rushing wind was heard outside the room, and many other people gathered to investigate. (The Bible says that these were devout men from every nation under heaven, and these men became confused, because each of them heard the Galileans speak in his own language.) They were naturally amazed and confused, as the Galileans were speaking in their languages, extolling the wonderful works of God. They began to ask what it all meant.

Of course, there were naysayers present, who chalked it off to their being drunk. But the apostle Peter spoke up and addressed the crowd and announced that they could not possibly be drunk, since it was only about the third hour of the day. And then he reminded them of the words that had been spoken by Joel, the prophet, many years earlier—that this was that very same outpouring of the Holy Ghost.

Then Peter continued to address the men, saying, "Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death, whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it."

From that day of Pentecost, Christ's disciples were empowered to preach the Gospel, which they did that very day to those who had come to town for the festival. Because they spoke in the tongues of the diverse people who had come from all over the Roman Empire, about 3,000 converts were baptized that same day. (This is all set forth in Acts 2:1-41.)

By the time Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D., Pentecost celebrations concentrated solely on God's gift of the Torah as given to Moses on Mount Sinai, and that is what modern day Jews commemorate today.

Many "modern" churches today do not foster the experience that occurred on the original day of Pentecost, and those who do are called "Pentecostals," that word frequently referring to those churches whose members speak in tongues or a special praise language or inspired prayer. There are also those who, when speaking in tongues say that they can communicate with a wide varity of other living entities - each of which represent various angels and demons. Most notable are those who claim the ability to communicate with snakes - a sign of Satan.

And so today, Pentecost is also associated with the charismatic movement, which encompasses some of the comparatively "radical" elements of Christianity, aside from traditional "Pentecostal" churches. More conservative churches worship in a more restrained and regimented way than these so-called radicals, who are moved by the Holy Spirit.

How and Where Pentecost is Celebrated

The Feast of Pentecost today is celebrated exactly seven weeks following each Easter Sunday. It is never on the same day, because Easter is never on the same day. But it is always 50 days after Easter.

In the UK, Pentecost is also called Whitsunday or Whitsun, because of their tradition of wearing white on that day for baptism.

Pentecost is celebrated, not only in the Western hemisphere, but also in Eastern Orthodox churches. However, in the East it is far more common to wear green, and the Western celebrants commemorate the day by wearing red, which is associated with the fire of the Spirit to empower the disciples to proclaim the Gospel to the four corners of the world.

Besides wearing different colors on Pentecost, the East and the West usually celebrate Pentecost on different days, except that occasionally those days of celebration will fall on the same date, as they did this year. In the East, Pentecost may fall as late as June 26; in the West, it may come as early as May 10.