A Pentecost Church

I am praying for Pentecost! Pentecost is not simply the church’s birthday; it is the church’s day of power. On Pentecost God came to a frightened and discouraged group of believers and delivered the power to live up to what Jesus did. God’s power is now the church’s power. God’s power to liberate, heal, and redeem is given to us so that we can faithfully fulfill the great commission. Pentecost delivers to the church what it needs to engage in the radical reign of God. Pentecost empowers God’s agenda.

It would appear that the church in the twenty-first century has lost its power to proclaim the reign of God. What has happened to our power? If Pentecost is the power source for faithful action and witness, why does the church seem so powerless when it comes to the poor, the captive, the dispossessed, and the imprisoned?

The loss of power has something to do with our tendency to “identify up” rather than to “reach down”? So much emphasis in contemporary religion is on success and prosperity. According to the leaders of the church growth movement, the faithful church is a growing church. A small church is a sign of an unfaithful church. The television preachers call us to prosperity and material gain, so that even being poor is a sign of God’s disfavor. To be faithful, one must be growing in prosperity, the signs of which have to do with consumption and ownership. Somehow the gospel in the United States has come to be identified with those who have rather than those who have not?

We have lost our power because we are identifying with “haves” and we turn our backs on the poor, the outcast, and the dispossessed? Pentecost power calls the church to difficult action and then gives power to proclaim the message of liberation. It provides the power to stay at the task and to develop communities of faith in the midst of the despair, inequity, injustice and of global terror.

I am praying for Pentecost! It is not so much about people speaking in “a strange tongue” as it is about believers getting power to be faithful. We don’t need power to identify with the rich and privileged. We don’t really need power unless we are standing at odds with the world as it is. If we were to put the “Have Nots” first, would we once again receive Pentecostal power?

I am praying for Pentecost! Maybe we do not desire such power or the consequences of Jesus’ teaching. I cannot help hoping that such power comes and we experience the power of God’s intervention in this congregation.

I am praying for Pentecost! What is a Pentecost Church?
* A Pentecost church will reach out to people of every language and tongue.
* A Pentecost church will call young and old, women and men to prophesy and proclaim Jesus as Lord.
* A Pentecost church will preach and baptize, but the story always ends too soon if a Pentecost church isn't concerned about economics, justice, and the downtrodden.

Derived from sources at http://www.gbod.org/site/c.nhLRJ2PMKsG/b.3784805/k.D1A1/Worship.htm