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BlogHere are the thoughts and news of the people in our community. Leave a comment as you wish. If you want to join the blogging ask Mark.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005Pentecost Sunday Last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday, a celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the birth of the church as we know it. We didn't celebrate it, but if we had this would have been fascinating to look at: "Pentecost is derived from the Greek "pente", meaning fifty. The followers of "Christ", being devout followers of the Hebrew faith, had come to Jerusalem for the Festival of Shavuos: the fiftieth day after Passover (or Festival of Matzoh). Shavuos was a day to remember the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai and a harvest festival of first fruits. Devout Jews would spend the night before Shavuos studying the laws and attending morning prayers before breaking their fast with Kiddush: a meal of bread and wine. Knowing this, it is small wonder that the followers in their seemingly drunken state were accused of having imbibed in too much new wine!" To look at that, you would have to look at the biblical links between Torah [the first 5 books of the OT] and Spirit. Unfortunately we charismatics have not had made much of the link in our theology of the Spirit. The book of Galatians only really makes sense when you understand this, and add the context of Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Ezekiel 36:25-27. At Pentecost there is a shift of 'Ages' from the Age of Torah to the Age of the Spirit [it is NOT a shift from the 'Age of Law' to the 'Age of Grace', I know some will struggle to believe me on that, but it is true ;o)]. The age of God's empowering presence to live as the people of God. The age of the transformation of the heart. The age of the immanent presence of God for all people. The age of God making his home on earth amongst His community. The age of lavish grace-gift giving to people for the service of others. Are you living in the new age? [note: thanks to TSK for the definition] Posted by: Mark | 3:15 pm |
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