This Sunday we celebrate the third high festival of the Christian Church year – Pentecost. Christmas is the celebration of God the Father’s gift of his Son to the world. Easter is the celebration of Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the grave. Pentecost is the celebration of the Holy Spirit coming upon the apostles with wind and fire, and the birth of the Christian Church.
The Hymn of the Day for Pentecost is “Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord.” Martin Luther was fond of this hymn and in his table talks spoke of both the words and the music as having been composed by the Holy Ghost. Luther altered the first stanza and added two original stanzas of his own.
Verse one: Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord! May all your graces be outpoured on each believer’s mind and heart; your fervent love to them impart. Lord, by the brightness of your light you gather and in faith unite your Church from ev’ry land and tongue: this to your praise, O Lord our God, be sung. Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord had once descended upon Mt. Sinai with the sound of thunder, with lightning displaying his presence. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit descended upon Jerusalem with the sound of wind, with tongues of fire displaying his presence. The Lord descended upon Mt. Sinai in fire and spoke to Moses. The Holy Spirit descended upon Jerusalem and filled Peter and the disciples with the ability to speak in other languages. Those gathered around Mt. Sinai trembled in fear and stood in place. Those gathered in Jerusalem came together in bewilderment. The Old Testament Feast of Pentecost was a harvest of wheat and firstfruits. The New Testament Festival of Pentecost was a harvest of souls with the firstfruits being 3,000 baptized that day.
We are so often lukewarm, tepid, apathetic Christians. We pay lip-service to the Lord in our prayers. We cheat God out of the firstfruits of our offerings. We give God the bare minimum of effort in our various vocations. We despise the preaching and his Word with our infrequent worship attendance.
We pray for the Holy Spirit to descend on us in fire. It is a fire that motivated Peter who had fifty days earlier been afraid to open his mouth when asked by a servant girl if he was one of Jesus’ disciples. But now with the fire of the Holy Spirit, Peter speaks openly and boldly before thousands. Two things embolden Peter. He had seen the risen Lord. And he had the Holy Spirit. Two things will embolden us to open our mouths – seeing the risen Lord with the eyes of faith and receiving the faith and power of the Holy Spirit.
Verse two: Come, holy Light, guide divine, and cause the Word of life to shine. Teach us to know our God aright and call him Father with delight. From ev’ry error keep us free;
let none but Christ our master be that we in living faith abide, in him, our Lord, with all our might confide. Alleluia, alleluia!
There was wind at the first Pentecost. Those who heard it were bewildered, amazed, and astonished. They asked a very Lutheran question, “What does this mean?” The sound of the Holy Spirit’s presence had called them all to the apostles’ meeting place.
The wind of the Holy Spirit still blows, calling us to the meeting place of the prophets and the apostles at our churches. But sadly, many of us choose to ignore the sound of the Holy Spirit calling us to gather in his presence. The wind of the Holy Spirit blows in the sermon, Scripture lessons, sacraments, liturgy, and hymns, but we so often block ourselves from the wind and ignore the Holy Spirit’s message.
It is the Holy Spirit working through the wind of the pastor’s voice, the songs of the saints, and the spoken word of Scripture that teaches us to know God aright and keeps us from every error that befalls fallen mankind. We need to be in our churches continually receiving the wind of the Holy Spirit.
Verse three: Come, holy Fire, comfort true, grant us the will your work to do and in your service to abide; let trials turn us not aside. Lord, by your pow’r prepare each heart, and to our weakness strength impart that bravely here we may contend, through life and death to you, our Lord, ascend. Alleluia, alleluia!
John the Baptist had told the people, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come ... He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Luke 3:16). In the eyes of the world, God’s Word is not powerful. It isn’t burning brightly. To the outside world, Christians and Christianity is a fire that has gone out.
Perhaps we contribute to that concept because we are not letting our faith burn brightly for all to see. But look at what the fire of the Gospel does in the hearts of God’s people. Peter had been afraid to speak about his relationship to Jesus in front of a servant girl. The disciples had run away when Jesus was arrested. They hid in a locked room. But fifty days later, they are no longer afraid. They are preaching to thousands. And three thousand are converted on that single day of Pentecost.
That is the power of the Holy Spirit’s fire, wind, and words – “it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). Our baptized children are not afraid of illness. Our confirmed teenagers are not afraid to live boldly in a non-Christian environment. Our faithful members are not afraid to give a clear witness of their faith in the workplace. Our devoted elderly are not afraid to die. That is the fulfillment of these words: “Lord, by your pow’r prepare each heart, and to our weakness strength impart that bravely here we may contend, through life and death to you, our Lord, ascend.”