As summer wraps up and the cycle of activities spins back toward school, work, and other regular endeavors, we’re still in the midst of the longest portion, or season, of the church year.  

Following Pentecost, which occurs 7 weeks after Easter Sunday, the ensuing church season is known as “Ordinary Time.”  On some calendars, however, each Sunday is designated as being the “(whatever number) Sunday after Pentecost.”  There are 26 such Sundays in the year, fully half of all Sundays. 

The reason for mentioning this is that clearly there is an emphasis on the memory of Pentecost.  Each Sunday is listed with a reference to the world-changing events that are described in the New Testament, in chapter 2 of Acts.  As promised by Jesus, the Holy Spirit showed up, inspiring and empowering the disciples, and getting the attention of others present in Jerusalem that day.  Three thousand people became believers, and the church was off and running.   

Sometimes in churches we get bogged down in details, organizational matters, and interpersonal struggles.  We allow culture to intrude on worship.  Often, we look and behave as a collection of individuals more than as a community of faith.  Core values such as the practice of spiritual disciplines become less of a priority than counting our dollars. 

But, we’re followers of Jesus.  We’re Pentecost People!  God enables us to recognize the times when we take our eyes off of Jesus.  God empowers us to adjust our course.  The example of the earliest of Christians, whose story is reported and preserved for us in the pages of a book we all own, even in multiple copies and translations, shouts to us of the new possibilities bound up in the Holy Spirit.