When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Acts 2:1-4

There is a book written several decades ago called “The Spiritual Life of Children.” It was written by a psychoanalyst researcher who was by no means religious. He was going through all his interviews with children from previous research. The children came from diverse social and religious backgrounds and even nationalities and the basis of the research was on their mental development in these circumstances. He noticed something which he had previously overlooked. All the children, even those who came from atheistic or non-religious background, talked about their conversations with God. The children did not just talk to God. They heard His voice guiding them to do what is right. They didn’t justify this voice. They treated it as a normal thing. Since the psychoanalyst wasn’t religious, he initially did not pay attention to it. Then he took a second look at this and realized that this cannot be mere coincidence. When I read the book, I remembered my own childhood. I remembered having conversations with God and trying to figure out the world around me. Then I thought maybe I was just making this up in my head.

When I shared this with a group of Christians, they told me that it was what Freud said about the Superego. I was a little disappointed. They were using science to explain away something outside the realm of science. The author of the book I mentioned did not refer to these terms even though he was a psychoanalyst. He acknowledged the children’s recognition of this voice within their soul. The children said that it was God. They knew that this voice was something bigger and better than them. Most importantly, they knew that this voice desired what was good not only for them but also for their friends and family.

We, Christians, should not be quick to discard God’s voice with secular explanations. We are a people of faith. We need to return and become a Pentecostal Church. Obviously I am not talking about the denomination. What we call the Pentecostal Church today is not Pentecostal in the biblical sense. They are more like a church of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There is nothing wrong with that. However, this Sunday is the day of Pentecost, an opportunity for us to reflect on how this day shaped the first Christians. It transformed their lives. Today, we need to talk to God and listen to Him on how we can continue to be a biblically Pentecostal Church.

Whenever we read the account of the coming of the Holy Spirit, our minds tend to be drawn to the fact that people spoke in many different tongues. In some churches, the gospel text is read in many different languages which can be interesting at first and then as it goes on, it tends to become a little tedious. The coming of the Holy Spirit is not about speaking in different languages but an acknowledgment that God is present in other cultures. The Holy Spirit did not come to do something new but to reveal what God is already doing in our midst. God doesn’t wait around for us to get things started. In fact, God doesn’t wait for anything. He does not live in this space called time. He is eternal and His actions are eternal. The Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see how he is working and invites us to participate in His works of grace. When the first disciples heard people praising God in other tongues, they were astonished. They saw God enabling his disciples to speak in tongues which had nothing to do with Judaism. This is an important factor.

The disciples of Jesus were Jewish people. They believed that God was only known through their Language, Law and Liturgical practices. Their prayers were prayed in Hebrew because this was their sacred language. They believed that it was the only language able to express the sacred knowledge of God. Language is not just mere words but it contains concepts and spiritual experiences of the people who speak the language. When we speak a new language, we also embrace their way at looking at Life and consequently, their spiritual experiences. The Jewish people back then did not believe that the other cultures were able to comprehend the sacred knowledge of God because their language was spiritually limited. However, when the disciples were able to speak miraculously in other languages, they realized that God was and is present in the lives and cultures of all peoples. In other words, all languages were able to speak the Sacred Things of God. Therefore, all peoples are always able to understand the mysteries of God in their souls. He is actively present and speaking to them. The Holy Spirit revealed to the disciples that He was not a God of the Jewish nation but He is the Father of all peoples.

This radical revelation changes everything. Every justification to commit genocide in the Old Testament is now brought under the scrutiny of this new revelation. All discrimination that was previously justified religiously now could no longer sustain their arguments. The new church of the Pentecostal cannot put restrictions on who can come before the Throne of God. They have to now listen to the voice of Holy Spirit in lives of the people.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Jeremiah 31:33

Jesus also said,

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. John 4:24

As Christians, we listen to our Lord Jesus. He is one and only authority. He taught us that we cannot understand the Truth without the Holy Spirit. This is why the Father sent the Holy Spirit to the first disciples. They needed someone to guide them and teach them how to discover the Truth. They needed to someone to help to discover how to worship in the way that is pleasing to God. In the past, God sent prophets. No one listened to them. The Holy Spirit was upon the these men and women of God but the people’s heart was hardened against the voice of the Holy Spirit. The disciples of the early church opened their hearts and minds to receive the Holy Spirit. The bible tells us that they prepared themselves through prayer.

In modern times, the idea of prayer has fallen into decadence. It becomes a selfish project where we try to manipulate God to give us what we desire. Books are written by so-called Christians on how to effectively pray to get what you want from God. Churches in this city have services to convince us that God will only answer our prayer when we use the right method of prayer. In the New Testament, prayer, among the disciples in the Book of Acts, had a simpler. It was this simple motive that helped them become a true Pentecostal church. They prayed to be open and sensitive to the coming of the Holy Spirit. The rest of the Book of Acts is an adventure that the church embarks on, discovering what it means to be a church guided by the Holy Spirit. It is a church which opens doors and overcomes barriers. It is the church that boldly proclaims,

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

The New Testament is a story of the movement of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the disciples. It does not have an ending. It continues wherever people are willing and open to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. God hasn’t stopped speaking to us. It could be that people have stopped listening. Maybe we have forgotten how to listen to God’s voice. Prayer is a good start. Being open to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us is a better way because this attitude will shape the way we pray. One more thing to add is that we should never restrict how the Holy Spirit will act. God does not act according to our plans. He acts according to His nature and the Bible tells us that God is Love. Love is quite surprising. Therefore, if we are willing to listen to the Holy Spirit, then we have to be ready to be surprised too.

In the first parish I worked, there were more children than adults in the congregation. Some of these children had never been baptized. There were about ten of them at least if my memory serves me well. I decided to have a baptism class with them. I decided to read the gospel of Mark with them. We didn’t use the children’s version. We just read from the regular Bible because this what the children wanted. We talked about some of the difficult passages. I asked the children to reflect about it. Reflection is a very difficult word to explain. I needed to put it in terms that they understood. Therefore, I explained that reflection is what they do when they talk to God in their hearts and listen to what the voice of God tells them. Then, one of the boys, Samuel, had a surprised look on his face. He asked me, “Reverend, how did you know that we hear God’s voice ?” I smiled and reminded him that I too was once a little boy like him.

God speaks to us. At each phase of our lives, He speaks to us in a different manner. The problem is that we convince ourselves that He is absent. However, the essence of the Christian faith is that God is present in our lives. He is preparing us to become His true worshippers. This doesn’t mean that we sit and sing hymns all day long. It means we become people who truly reflect the Love of God in our lives. The first disciples, with all their cultural limitations and defects, reflected God’s love faithfully. They listened to the Holy Spirit and become a vibrant Pentecostal church. Now, we can follow in their footsteps and listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. We can continue in the footsteps of the first Christians and discover how to be a true Pentecostal church in the biblical sense.