Easter is over.
One can almost hear the collective sigh of relief from many corps officers. Not that they do not appreciate and enjoy Easter and especially the Easter message, but a whole week of evening meetings during a normal working week is quite a deal – maybe even an ordeal.
Of course, the activities of the week were preceded by also paying attention to Lent and in that way preparing for Easter. But now it is over and you can forgive officers for thinking it is back to normal until the even greater ordeal of Christmas comes around.
It was as I sat and prepared for an Easter message a troubling question suddenly appeared in my head:
What would happen, if we invested as much time and energy
in preparing for Pentecost, as we do for Easter?
Unlike Lent, there is of course a Biblical precedence for preparing for Pentecost. It is said of the disciples that they ‘gave themselves single-heartedly to prayer…’ after they had witnessed Jesus ascend into heaven with the instruction to wait for the coming Holy Spirit. Ten days later, they were still there, together and presumably praying, when the Spirit came.
What would happen, if we did the same? Not in remembrance of what they did, nor primarily to focus on the first Pentecost, but to give ourselves ‘single-heartedly’ praying in the words of William Booth ‘We need another Pentecost. Send the fire.”
As I was pondering this, another disturbing question forced its way to the front. It was simple, but uncomfortable. Even as I a couple of days later write this, I still can’t ignore it, although I am tempted to. The question? In all simplicity it is: