Deepen Your Spiritual Engagement As We Wait For Pentecost
We are making the recording and associated study guide available a few weeks early to allow churches and other organizations to offer them to their members. The recording is designed to be used during the ten days before Pentecost as a way to prepare for this important event.
Pentecost is one of the most important events of the Christian calendar and is only a few weeks away.
This year, we are offering a recorded reflection as a way to help you and your church prepare for Pentecost. Also available is a guide that comes with a transcript and scripture citations.
THE STORY OF PENTECOST
The Story of Pentecost
Like many of the great stories of the Bible, the Story of Pentecost says something important about God and our relationship with God – and this applies not just to Biblical times, but to today as well.
It also speaks to us of hope and the presence and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
According to Luke (in Acts), after Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead, he spent forty days on earth teaching his Apostles. At the end of this period, on the day of his ascension (which this year corresponds to Thursday, May 29), Jesus instructed these Apostles to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit. So they stayed and waited in what became known as the Upper Room, and devoted themselves to prayer.
After ten days, they had an extraordinary experience of the Holy Spirit, as recounted in Acts, Chapter 2. This experience drove them back out into the world with a new and powerful sense of hope and mission.
The Opportunity for Us in 2025
We can follow the same pattern. As we head towards Pentecost on June 8, we can spend time each day waiting and praying, like the Apostles. And then we can head back into the world, perhaps inspired with renewed hope and a deeper sense of mission as we return to our work.
To help with this, the recorded reflection retells the Story of Pentecost in a new way and encourages us to wait and pray as the Apostles did.
We are also making available a one-day devotional guide as a companion to the story; it can be used by individuals and groups. It also includes a transcript of the audio recording in case you would prefer to read rather than listen to the story. You can download the devotional guide and transcript here:
Credits and Copyrights:
Scripture from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. All rights reserved.
Written/Recorded by Robert Tribken © 2020/2023
Audio Engineered, Produced by John Tribken, 2020/2023
Image © Adobe, Inc.
We hope you will join with us in prayer, even though at a distance, as we wait for Pentecost!
