THE WORD THIS WEEKEND

Jews, this weekend, celebrate Shavuot - in English it is The Feast of Weeks.  Just as it did over 2,000 years ago, it is both a celebration after harvesting the winter wheat and a remembrance of God giving the Torah to His Chosen People on Mt. Sinai.  In Greek, the feast is called Pentecost - this comes from the fact that it is 50 days after the Passover and the corresponding death of Jesus.  Jews from all over the civilized world made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for this feast. 

Now this is a great feast of the Christian world.  Jesus spent about 40 days on Earth after his death; so this is about 10 days after Jesus ascended into the sky in front of the Apostles.   He left with a promise:  that His Father would send an Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to help them.  With all those Jews from all over the civilized world in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, they needed help.  The first thing he gave them was the gift of tongues so that all these diverse people could understand them.  Realizing what had happened to them, the Apostles grew in confidence and spread the Word without fear.  

This is effectively the beginning of God's church - the birth of Christianity.  So, Happy Birthday, if you are part of that Church.  Go out with confidence and be a reflection of Christ.

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