Pentecostal Presbyterians?
Why We Should Celebrate Pentecost
Pentecost is this Sunday. Most Reformed and Presbyterians won’t do anything special or different. However, as postmillenialists, we believe that God is always growing His Church. God is not through with us yet. We believe in the maturation of the Church, and not the downward spiral of the Church toward apostasy. A growing number of conservative Reformed types (among whom I count myself) are discovering the joy of celebrating the traditional Church Year. For us, it's basically a question of whose time we want to follow. Around whose calendar should we orient our lives?
Is the 4th of July more important than Christmas? Or is the birth of our Savior more important than the birth of our nation? Is Memorial Day more important than Easter? Is it more important to remember the death of national heroes, or celebrate the death and resurrection of the Son of God? Is Mother's Day more important than Pentecost? I'm not sure how many churches even celebrate Pentecost, but I'll bet a few beers (if I were a betting man) that 99% of American churches have some sort of Mother's Day ritual. But, which is more important: God's gracious provision of mothers or the gift of the Holy Spirit?
In all this, I don't want to denigrate what God has done through America, or detract from the sacrifice thousands made for our country. Nor do I want to insult anyone's mother! However, which is more fundamental? The world is the way it is because God is who He is. Without God's sovereignty, no president could have any authority (Rom. 13). Without Christ's sacrifice, our sacrifices for each other are meaningless (Jn. 15:9-13). Parental love (motherhood) is a reflection of God’s parental love for His creation. Human offspring is grounded in the truth that we are all God’s offspring (1 Cor. 11:11-12; Acts 17:28-29). The Spirit continues to hover over all creation, just as in the beginning (Gen. 1:2), and this includes motherhood. Human life, ordered rightly, reflects the life of the Triune God. The question, then, is whether we should center our human lives around the Divine Life—or let Hallmark, Wal-Mart, and the Federal government structure our seasons.
The 16th century Reformers had no problem celebrating the Evangelical Feast Days (days marking the key events in the life of Christ), and it seems that over-scrupulous Puritans and Presbyterians tied themselves up in knots arguing about whether we could observe man-made traditions. After all, there’s no explicit command in Scripture to celebrate Christmas. But, should we not celebrate what God has done in history? What could be more central to our lives than the Life of the Trinity and God’s works of redemption in history?
Thus, as postmillenialists, let’s have more holidays, not less! The world will know we are Christians by our love and our joy. The world should wonder why those “legalistic” Christians are having such a good time. Accordingly, when our kids were younger, we started giving them presents on Christmas and on Easter. We tried to make Easter at least as big a deal as Christmas (which might translate into spreading out Christmas presents over two church holidays, instead of a once-a-year splurge). Later, we added another element to our celebration of the historic church year. On Ascension Day, we brought out more presents, and for a week and a half, the children waited in anticipation for Pentecost. Our oldest son Athanasius (3 at the time) learned a new catechism question: “What present did Jesus give us on Pentecost?” “He gave us the Howy Speewit.” He loved that question, and asked me to repeat it ad infinitum!
This reflects the Biblical truth that Jesus gave gifts to men after his Ascension (Eph. 4:7-9). Those gifts are given through the Holy Spirit and they include the fruit of the Spirit and the sacraments, and the offices of the church (Gal. 5:22-25; Eph. 4:2-13).
Since we are prone to be stereotyped as strict, Calvinistic, psalm-thumpers, we wanted to make sure our children grow up in an atmosphere of love and joy. We serve a great God who gives us wonderful gifts. We want them to wonder why everyone else doesn’t get Pentecost presents. And then the discussion will turn to why any of us get any presents at all. It’s all free, unmerited grace, faith is a gift, and salvation is a present.
The Holy Spirit is God, after all. Let’s not be afraid to be Pentecostal Presbyterians.
Now in my 70's, I wish I had read this in my 20's.
It made me sit up and take notice--deep things are going on here.
And I kept thinking as I read--I wish he'd write more about this point, and this point, .....at least a dozen times in this excruciatingly brief bullseye.