Yesterday was Pentecost Sunday. That makes today Pentecost Monday – or Whit Monday, as it is called in England. It would be a holiday for us if we still lived in Germany. Actually, the day after Pentecost is still a state sponsored holiday in a number of European nations. As I am writing these words, our German friends are taking advantage of a day on which all the stores are closed by having Kaffee and Kuchen with their friends, or going for a walk in the park, or taking a long bicycle ride along the Elbe River. Can you tell that I’m feeling homesick?

Of course, Pentecost is about more than just having an extra day off if you happen to live in Europe. Every time I read the story of what happened in Acts 2, it blows me away. At one moment there were 120 believers who confessed that Jesus was the Lord of all; then the Holy Spirit descended on them. The next moment the crowd was “cut to the heart” as Peter preached and 3000 new believers were added to the faith. God did something absolutely unprecedented in the history of his dealings with mankind and visitors to Jerusalem that day were swept along in his wake.

As generations of pastors have done before me, I find myself asking the question, “Does God want the same thing to happen again? If so, what prevents it from happening?”

There is something in me that bucks against even asking that question. Through the years, I’ve heard all too many pastors speak about the revival that was “just around the corner.” All we have to do is to pray long and hard enough and we can usher in the fire. But that teaching seems to squeeze out God’s sovereignty in the mix. The last thing we need is a man-centered gospel of Pentecost. What God did on that day was as unique as it was powerful and it will never be repeated in quite the same way.

Nevertheless, I’m not able to escape the challenge put before the church to play its part and to pray for the Holy Spirit to come in power. Bill Maxwell quotes an unnamed church leader as saying: “In Acts Chapter 2 they prayed for 10 days, Peter preached for 10 minutes, and 3000 were saved. Today, churches pray for 10 minutes, preach for 10 days, and 3 are saved.” I don’t think he was implying that if we simply pray for 10 days, we can dispense Holy Spirit revival like a vending machine. He is simply calling attention to our modern tendency to value methodology over prayer. The point is well taken.

May God use this Pentecost Monday as a reminder that He still delights in responding to the earnest prayers of his children who ask him for the gift of the Holy Spirit. And when we ask for a fish, he won’t give us a serpent.

I’m in the weary state where the eyes barely want to stay open. It’s been a long day, but it’s been a fine day. In fact, it’s been a fine weekend. For three days, I’ve been calling people to reflect upon the twin realities of their own hapless estate on the one hand and the incredible victory that Christ accomplished over sin, hell and the grave on the other. Now I sink into my easy chair and reflect on that reality myself.

One of the challenges a pastor faces is that of preaching the classic and timeless themes in a manner that captures the heart. It’s impossible to meet that challenge apart from the work of the Spirit. It’s also impossible unless I allow myself to be transfixed by the message.

In today’s Seattle Times, an article about the head of the Episcopal Church in Western Washington discussed, among other things, the declining membership in the movement. What does one do when membership drops from 38,000 to 31,000 over the past 20 years, even as the general population is growing? Bishop Rickel poses the possibility, “Maybe the ship we’re trying to keep afloat doesn’t need to float any more. Maybe we need to dock it and do something else.” Rev. Rickel isn’t proposing that the ship of the church itself be docked, but some of the forms in which she presents herself. He argues for openness to newer, creative models… from more conversational worship services to house churches. At the same time, he is calling his flock back to the basics of the faith, stating that it’s difficult to evangelize the world with our particular message “if we don’t even know what it is ourselves.” I agree!

The article gives me pause to think about our church and how she is doing. Is it time to steer her gently toward safe harbor (where other old ships languish from sitting idle)? I hope not. I want to hang onto the hope that the simple, powerful and transformational message of Resurrection Day is enough to refurbish any ship, no matter how much she leaks. I’m not contending that we shouldn’t revisit the model. I just hope that the model isn’t the main thing, but that the message is. I don’t just hope it – I believe it with all my heart.

Around the world today, the ancient refrain was echoed in multiple tribes and tongues:
Jesus Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!
I loved hearing it in our congregation. I know that other pastors feel the same. It reminds us that the same power which raised up Christ from the dead will quicken our sometimes lifeless churches and renew them by his grace.