A post on Magnolia Tribune urged churches to treat Pentecost Sunday as the church’s birthday and to celebrate the day, saying that “filled with the Spirit, our best days are yet to come,” according to the post.
The post referenced the New Testament book of Acts, saying the disciples showed fear and failure before Jesus’ crucifixion but were transformed at Pentecost. It cited missionary E. Stanley Jones, who the post quoted as saying, “Draw a line through the New Testament and on one side is spiritual fumbling, hesitancy, inadequacy, defeat, and on the other side is certainty, courage, adequacy, victory. That line runs straight through Pentecost.”
The Magnolia Tribune post said Acts 2 reports about 120 followers gathered as Jesus had instructed, were filled with the Holy Spirit and that Peter preached, leading to about 3,000 conversions. The post described that outpouring as the start of the Christian movement and the beginning of regular meetings in the Temple and in homes.
The post urged churches to make Pentecost a focal day, calling it the theological culmination of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and noting that some congregations mark the day with red balloons, a birthday cake, special music and communal meals, as the post’s author recalled from their own congregation.
The post also said many churches largely ignore Pentecost and cited Jones’ observation that no major Christian shrine commemorates the event in the Holy Land, calling it a “lost chord” in modern Christianity. The piece concluded with the exhortation, “Happy birthday, Church!” and appeared first on Magnolia Tribune.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
