This coming Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. It is often called the birthday of the church and is worthy of our highest celebration.
We read the account in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit descended upon the early church and emboldened it and empowered it to go from a small gathering to a church that has thrived for over twenty centuries now.
We at Crabtree Valley have special reason to celebrate with churches all over the world. There is a difference, my friends between the church and the Kiwanis Club or Lions Club or Civitan Club. The church, and the church alone, is a living witness to the difference the presence and power of the Holy Spirit can make.
Maybe like some of you I was raised in the church nursery, baptized in its waters, called to be its minister and have given my life to it. My best friends were church friends. My highest and best models of living were in church adults I watched. Indeed, I agree with what a church history professor of mine once said–“If somehow it was proved that Jesus was not the Son of God, I will still want to be in church because that is where I am most at home.” YES!!
So this Sunday we remember the difference the power of the Holy Spirit meant for those early Christians and the difference it continues to make today. We are never left to ourselves. Our greatest challenge is to claim that presence and live that power and give every evidence to the outside world that there is something different about us.
Hope you will celebrate with me this Sunday.
Brave Journey, Bill
