Let's celebrate

From Helen

Well I want to start by thinking of our celebrations today. We are celebrating the beginning of the Church as we think of the feast of Pentecost and we will be celebrating the confirmation of Chris who has said yes to God by being baptised and last week by being confirmed. 

Today is all about lives being changed. It is amazing to think of Pentecost as the birth of the Church. This is because it was on the day of Pentecost that the group of Jesus’s followers were able to tell even more people about Jesus and the way that He had changed their lives, on the day of Pentecost many more people joined the followers of Jesus and so the Church was born as it started to grow. 

When people encounter Jesus their lives are changed. Today is about celebrating and we will be doing that afterwards but it reminds me of something that happened to me when I was in University. 

In University I was a member of the Christian Union, and was paying a lot of attention to everything that was going on, so much so that it took me a year of being a member to realise that I recognised the treasurer of the Christian Union Matt.  I thought he seemed familiar but I was not sure and in the end I asked one of my friends what Matts surname was. It was Woolley.  I was surprised I had been in school with a Matt Woolley, whom I would never have expected to be a member of the Christian Union as he had been very wild.   

When I got home I checked my school photos to see if the Matt Woolley from school might be the same Matt Woolley as the one in University. Sure enough the facial features looked similar, but the biggest give away … and you may think that something like this would stand out a lot, but as I say I am notalways the most observant… Matt had bright,bright red hair !  He was fairly distinctive, but the last I had heard of him was him running away from Police outside my school with some money that another boy in school had stolen from holding up a fish and chip shop with a sawn off water pistol !  Now would you expect a boy like that to have turned into treasurer of a Christian Union ? It wouldn’t say much about the money of the Christian Union and its safety, unless of course Matthad changed.

I plucked up the courage to ask if we had been in school together and yes we had.  I mentioned the “incident” to Matt, he laughed and said, “ I was very different then, it was before God had changed me.” What an incredible statement to make.  It surprised me, to have actually seen and met the before and after and to be honest it was amazing to consider all the ways that a life can change when God changes people.

This is exactly what happened at Pentecost.  The disciples had been told by Jesus to wait for something special to happen to them, and they did this. They were scared, they knew that if they left the room where they were waiting they could have been attacked by the authorities for being supporters of Jesus.  All of a sudden on Pentecost they went out into Jerusalem which was full of people celebrating a major feast and they ran out talking about Jesus, causing a commotion. That is one way to ensure that the authorities were aware of them. Yet it did not bother them. Why? Something had happened to them, God had changed them and given them strength, the promises of Jesus to be with them always were being fulfilled. 

I always think that the account of Pentecost is so exciting and so incredible that it could only ever be down to the wonderful moment when God changes a persons life.  It is incredible, but imagine what a difference it could make to our world today, if Pentecost happened like this again! How would people feel? Would they sit up and take notice, or would they just sit there and think Oh look a religious fanatic, or a drunk is being a nuisance. The disciples had the same accusations, yet from their preaching the Church was born. 

The way God changed the disciples, is the same way that He changes us.  By us turning to God and asking for Him to be with us so we are saying that we know God can and does make a huge impact in our lives and this is why we need to be prepared to let Him in, to allow Him to change us continually, asking for His strength to be more like Him, to ask for His love to surround and protect us, giving us the courage and comfort that in all situations He is with us. 

May we this Pentecost and always, think of how we can celebrate and let God make a difference in us, as we ask Him to come into our lives more fully. I would like to finish with some words that could be our daily prayer as we seek the power of God to transform us so that we, in turn can transform the world around….

Breathe on me, Breath of God, fill me with life anew, that as you love, so may I love, and do what you would do.  AMEN