Pastoral Letter 13
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
It’s Pentecost, but sadly we won’t be able to have our traditional combined service with neighbouring St. Aidan’s Anglican Church. We were all hoping that this Sunday would be a good chance to recommence our Sunday Services in our beautiful Sanctuary, but we are not still allowed to do so. We hope that the end of the month of June could be the breakthrough. We are very anxious to start our regular programs and services, but we need to be a little bit more patient.
As we look at the present crisis, we often think that the critical test in life is not what happens to us. The critical test is how we handle things that happen to us. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, promised to be with us always. If we believe He is alive and is at work seated at the right hand of God as our advocate and is in the world through His church, through us; and if we believe that He has power over life and death, and every problem that irritates the human spirit – then we can live our lives confident and courageous that His power is sufficient for every trial we face.
This Sunday is the Feast of Pentecost. In Christian tradition, Pentecost is the birthday of the Christian Church. The followers of Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit “incorporated” their new cause and began what would become the most powerful movement in history.
On this happy occasion I would like to congratulate the Church as it celebrates its birthday. Actually, according to Josephus, the Jewish historian and the Bible scholars, the Crucifixion of Christ and the establishment of the church was around A.D. 30, according to our current calendar. This is the date that all current Bible resource books use in reference to the events that transpired and were recorded in Acts 2. If we add the figures, we come up with the figure 1990, as the age of the first church, that was born on Pentecost after Jesus’ death, Resurrection and Ascension.
So, today we celebrate the 1990th birthday of the Church and give thanks to God, that the Church has survived 20 centuries by His grace and the moving power of the Spirit, which descended on the disciples when they were gathered in the Upper Room ten days after Jesus’ ascension. With today’s worship, we come before God to pray and sing that His Spirit, the Holy Spirit comes to us to give the strength we need to do our part in spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Attached you will find this Sunday’s Order of Service, please join us tomorrow morning at 9:30 am by reading the script, the Prayers, Responsive Reading, Bible Readings and sing the hymns and think about all those who are worshiping with you at the same time. I am attaching the hymns in music and video format to make it easy for you to sing along. The second on the third hymns are in two different versions each. The choice is yours. Please do not forget to light a candle, if you wish, which represents Christ with us. I am sending two more hymns to listen at the end of the service. “Come, Holy Ghost, Our Souls Inspire” is from Mark. Also, you will find an attachment to be played during the Service where it says Video Segment. It is a short video clip about Pentecost.
Keep on praying and leave everything in the hands of our great God, who is our refuge and strength.
Prayer points:
- Ruth’s sister Katie is making good progress. Please continue to pray for her and Ruth.
- Continue to pray for those countries who are still in the midst of the pandemic, where the number of cases of COVID-19 is growing.
- Please pray and contribute to the Exodus Foundation June appeal. Help is needed. For details refer to our Newsletter, which will be sent soon.
- Pray and if you can, contribute to the COVID-19 fundraising efforts of the Armenian Missionary Association of Australia.
If you have any prayer points, please let me know and I will include them in the next week’s letter.
Krikor
Your Minister
Message Summary
Pentecost – The Coming of the Spirit
Pentecost – The Coming of the Spirit – is celebrated on the same day as the Jewish Feast of Pentecost known as the Shavuot. The event of the Coming of the Spirit is depicted in the second chapter of the book of Acts. This was a big and unusual ‘incident’, a Biblical supernatural event. What happened on that day, we call it an ‘incident’, because this term is used to describe an unexpected, unplanned, and unorganised event and leaves behind a big influence on people and things.
Pentecost, as described in the Old Testament is known as the Feast of the Weeks (Exodus 34.22, Deuteronomy 16:10), or the Feast of Harvest (Exodus 23:16), and also known as Feast of Firstfruits (Numbers 28:26). The Hebrew name or term for the Pentecost is Shavuot; a feast which is celebrated 50 days after the Jewish Passover in the Jewish Nisan month, usually occurring according to our current calendar during the months of May and June. During this Jewish celebration, according to the tradition, the disciples and the followers of Jesus were gathered in Jerusalem, in the Upper Room in A.D. 30, when suddenly a miraculous incident happened, the Holy Spirit descended on them like a lightning.
Previously Jesus has spoken to them about the coming of the Holy Spirit (John 16:7-14). As He had told them the Holy Spirit suddenly descended on the disciples and the followers of Jesus “like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven … They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them”.
On the Feast of Pentecost, Jews and Christian believers were gathered in Jerusalem from different countries and areas. Luke mentions 15 different names of nations in the second chapter of Acts (9-11). The Galilean apostles spoke to those who were gathered in the language they would understand, as if they were expert linguists.
On this occasion, Peter gave his first spiritual sermon, and as a result three thousand people came to faith and were baptised, and the first Christian Church was born. This was also the start of the Christian community in Jerusalem.
This first Christian Church had special characteristics. The faithful members of that first church had friendship and fellowship. They also had the splendid virtue of sharing everything and considering all they had common to all. In unity, they “devoted themselves to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). And finally, they were selling their possessions and goods, giving to anyone as he had need (Acts 2: 43-45).
When we throw a glance on the Coming of the Spirit, which happened on Pentecost, we see the following few thoughts.
- The Christian Church was born as a result of the Spirits coming effect. The church did not come to life by the people who had the same mindset or efforts, who agreed and planned together to establish an organisation with the name “Christian Church”. The church started when people filled with the Holy Spirit became Christ’s witnesses. The first church, as an organisation, did not have anything to boast, but had the fullness of the Holy Spirit. That was the reason which made the church a powerful and committed spiritual organisation.
- The Church was born, because its members were all together in one place united (Acts 2:1). No doubt, the first century Christians had their differences. They were different from each other in their character, mentality, and habits. But there was a common thing that united them. They were all united in their faith in Jesus Christ. It was Christ that transcended their all differences and joined their hearts together with a great love.
- The church had the call and the duty to spread the Gospel of Christ, until everyone accepts it in the language he or she understands. On the day of Pentecost, the disciples spoke in different languages to people from 15 different nationalities and delivered the soul-stirring message of the gospel. It is the duty of every church and each Christian member to proclaim the Gospel of Christ’s love, peace and salvation, until everyone possesses it.
It is encouraging to know that today, as always, the gift of the Holy Spirit is available to every church and every Christian. What happened on that first Pentecost Day, it can happen today, anywhere and in any church, if that church has an open heart and is ready to accept the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the church is not a church, but just an organisation. Hence, as in the first and the past 20 centuries, the Church has been always dependent on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to justify its calling and to do its mission in an effective way. Therefore, today all of us need the visit of the Holy Spirit.
It is interesting to mention that the first Pentecost – the Coming of the Spirit – happened when the followers of Christ “were all together in one place united”. Unfortunately, the members of the church are not allowed to gather together in one place today. Sometimes it is not possible to gather physically together, but we can be united in the power of the Spirit, because the Spirit takes away all obstacles, because He is Almighty and Omnipotent.
We should pray that in these difficult days God fills all of us with His Holy Spirit, so that like the first century Christians, we become His living witnesses.
As we ponder the first Pentecost in the Upper Room, the following points become relevant to us.
- Pentecost represents the unlocking of the doors through the activity of the Holy Spirit.
According to Luke, 120 people gathered together in a locked and hidden room and shared the fear of the outside enemies with one another around the room like a virus. It gripped them by their throats. It immobilized their ability to move around. But on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon them, their lives were transformed in a glorious way. The Holy Spirit filled them with courage.
As in every age, the same Holy Spirit has the power to change lives today, to encourage fearful hearts and fill them with Christian hope. The Holy Spirit can also encourage our fearful hearts and fill them with hope.
- Pentecost represents a church that reaches out.
Those 120 people in the Upper Room were united with a strong bond of care and concern, so much so that they shared their possessions among themselves. They carried each other’s anxieties and burdens. I know that many of our brothers and sisters around the world are facing very harsh financial conditions. Those of us who are a little better off, have a spiritual obligation to help them. Once again, I urge you to extend a helping hand to them through the Armenian Missionary Association of Australia, as well as locally through the Exodus Foundation.
- Pentecost represents a church united in prayer.
We read in Acts 2:42 that the early followers of Christ devoted themselves through prayer. Prayer was their lifeline that fuelled their spiritual vitality.
When the Holy Spirit is at work, God will enable us to do things we thought we would never do. A case in point is the ingenuity of our churches these days to worship, to study the Word of God and pray online. It is amazing how some of our churches have used online communication. Let us continue to worship God as well as uphold one another in prayer.
- The Pentecost event can be a repeat performance in our day and in our place.
The Holy Spirit is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The Holy Spirit is still the moving power of the church. He is the wind of God that unfolds our sails and sets our course. Therefore, with the wind of the Holy Spirit in sails, let us go forth with confidence and courage.
Let us all celebrate Pentecost with joy and thanksgiving. May God fill our lives with the power of His Spirit.
Amen!