Easter Gives Way to Pentecost

This Sunday marks the end of the Easter season – a seven week period of remembering the journey of Jesus’ followers as they encountered the Risen Christ and sought to make sense of the resurrection. The gospels record multiple resurrection stories, reminding us that while we each encounter resurrection in our own ways, there are common threads of transformation – from fear to awe, confusion to joy, disbelief to understanding – and lots of movement back and forth!
And then, on the day when the religious community commemorated Moses’ receiving the  law, the Risen Christ infuses the new law of love into the gathered community – a love that expresses itself in unity, diversity and connection as people overcame cultural and language barriers, and the church was born.
At Christmas we celebrate the coming of Emmanuel, God with us. Pentecost moves us into celebrating God not only with us, but within us – as a church who embodies God’s love, healing, and transforming power in the world. May God’s Spirit, poured out on Jesus’ followers so long ago, fall upon us anew, that God might dwell within us – and within the world.