Pentecost - Fireworks Or Fulfillment?

Today is the day on which we celebrate the Ascension of Christ, 10 days before Pentecost.

So last night I wanted to prepare my people for 10 Days of Prayer between Ascension and Pentecost. I used the presentation below as the context for handing out a 10 Day prayer guide and encouraging its use.

In most churches that take the Bible seriously in the United States, remembering the Ascension is unheard of and thinking about Pentecost is almost equally unheard of unless talking about the "charismatic issue".

Pentecost in that way of thinking seems to have been God's "random act of fireworks" - sort of a 4th or July celebration to kick off His new "gig" called the church. (Some of us were even taught that the church was a "parenthesis" in God's real plan, sort of a heavenly afterthought).

Seeing the Day of Pentecost as

1. The beginning of restoring the glory lost at the Fall (Genesis 1 -3)

2. The beginning of the reversal of the dispersion and confusion of tongues at Babel (Genesis 11)

3. The beginning of the fulfillment of Moses' wish that all God's people would be filled by the Holy Spririt (Numbers 11)

4. The crowning achievement of Christ's work

5. The establishment of Christ's reign in the Ascension and Pentecost as Christ's Ascension gift of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4)

were all alien to me growing up. Likely they are alien to the people you serve too.

And while much more might be said on the subject, I chose to address these topics in the form of a story. So, beginning at Creation (with much fast forwarding to the particular stories noted above) I told the storyline of the Bible as it related to Pentecost. The same could be done for the concept of Propitiation/Sacrifice/Atonement or any doctrine as Jack Day's books discuss.

After the story we reviewed and discussed the story so that the events from Ascension to Pentecost were seen in the light of Jesus Christ's ministry and as it's Fulfillment - not a random act of "Fireworks".

The people loved the story format. It drew them in and got them thinking. I thank God that He exposed me to Bible Story Telling just for moments like last night!

Image: Garofalo's Ascension of Christ