The Meaning of Pentecost Sunday: The Holy Spirit Changes the World 

AMAC Exclusive – By The Gallic

In 33 AD, a group of men and women sat in a room, afraid. They had witnessed something so mind-boggling, so unbelievable as to redefine the world and our relationship with it: the central reality of Christianity, that God came, died, and rose for our salvation. They had seen Him, had spoken with Him, and ten days earlier they had watched Him be taken up to the heavens. After getting over the shock of His resurrection, the apostles must have figured they had the world in the palm of their hands. After all, how do you compete with God, who cannot stay dead? And then he was gone.

In all the world and all of history, this must have been the most ‘O snap!’ moment. Can you imagine the looks on their faces? What were they to do? This time it seemed like he was not coming back, at least not that often. The table had turned, the world completely went upside down, and they were stuck. So, they slunk back to the upper room, the place where it all started, and they hid. For ten days, they waited for the authorities to take them away. They jumped at every sound, asked, begged, and pleaded to the God they just watched leave them, after saying he would be with them to the end of the world.

And then, something totally unexpected occurred. When hope was lost and disaster was threatening, the Holy Spirit came. Outside of speaking in many different tongues, nothing happened, but everything changed. Where there once was fear, now there was courage. Where there once was confusion, now there was clarity. The eucatastrophic moment, the victory that started the Christian Church, the Pentecost, was a change in mindset. You do not have to believe in God, in Jesus Christ, or in the Holy Spirit to recognize that the men and women in that room were filled with a fire that still burns brightly in this world.

What does the Christian Pentecost show us in America today? We find ourselves in a challenging spot, do we not? Trust is at an all-time low, scandals abound, and children in our schools are being killed. Yet at the same time, the nation is filled with people who care, who spend their days helping. My 81-year-old mother the other day needed help getting some potting soil into her car, so she asked two strapping young men who were walking by for help. With a quick, “Sure thing ma’am” they picked up the bag, popped it in the car, and as they left my mother promised to pray for them. That is America. America is not a land defined by hatred and rancor, it is a land defined by men and women living according to the virtues that Christ calls us to live by, whether they actively practice the Christian faith or not.

Pentecost showed us that a small group of men and women filled with the Holy Spirit could change the world. So can we. This Pentecost, let us take back our nation, show love to our neighbor, help a new friend, go to church, and worship God. Our nation needs us, and our schools need us. If we want to set things right, let’s start by loving each other.

The Gallic is the pen name of an educator with over 30 years of experience, who spends his time helping schools get better at teaching their students and parents happier at sending them to those schools.