Pentecost, the day when tongues like fire rest on heads, and friends of Jesus, speak in languages they do not know. Every person in that international gathering, hears the wonderful things God has done through Jesus, in their native tongue.

It is a startling event to find yourself a part of.

Amazed, confused, astonished, perplexed and bewildered, the Pentecost crowd did not expect, to be in the center of God’s Holy Spirit’s coming in power.

Peter spoke, reminding these devout Jews, gathered from nations near and far, of God’s promise.

“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit,
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist . . .
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Acts 2:17-2

Then Peter points the crowd to Jesus, who had worked miracles among them, and challenged Israel’s structure of moral life.

In the extraordinary moment, of questions and confusion, memories of Passover and the crucifixion of Jesus are murmured. Rumors have spread of Jesus rising from the dead. But rumors are just that, rumors. Not to be trusted, without validation.

Peter continues his message, saying of Jesus’ death, “But God raised him to life again, setting him free from the pangs of death, because it could not be that death should keep him in its grip.” Acts 2:24 REB

It is into this hope that we are called. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we too, are given the promise, that death cannot keep us in its grip.

Later the Apostle Paul would write,

“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I Corinthians 15:55, 57

God’s Holy Spirit gives power both in life and in death . . . Present amid all the challenges we face in our world and in our lives today. Leading us forward one moment at a time, stretching us in faith, growing us in grace, drawing us toward that promised Land, where we will live more fully into the presence of God.