Pentecost People?

We Lutheran Christians often refer to ourselves as Easter People, those who know the risen Christ and the powerful gift of redemption that brings. Fewer of us know quite how to treat Pentecost—and the Holy Spirit. The Spirit seems a bit too mysterious for us and maybe a bit frightening. We hear of the “gifts of the Spirit” but wonder which (if any) gift is ours. We wonder what those gifts mean and we aren’t too sure about the presence of the Holy Spirit in our everyday and busy lives.

I think that we, especially we who are involved in work to end hunger, are truly Pentecost People. We are promised the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us in our work. We are prepared by none other than Jesus himself as he modeled for us what it is to speak up for and assist those who are less fortunate. We are positive because we have faith in a God who has been and always will be with and for us. We are persistent (like that widow we learned about in scripture) because we know that it takes more than one letter, one phone call or one visit to an elected official to make the needs of the hungry and solutions to hunger heard.

We are firmly planted in our faith, knowing that is why we are perennially purposeful in our work together to end hunger. We are passionate about the need to end hunger and often pushed and prompted by the Holy Spirit as we go about our hunger work.

Pentecost is the beginning of the church year known as “ordinary time”. Even as I understand the liturgical concept, I don’t find the work of the Holy Spirit the least bit ordinary. Perhaps you don’t either—and can think of yet other ways in which you are a Pentecost Person not just in this season but in every season.