You will Set the World on Fire

PentecostC, Sullivan Park Care Center, May 19, 2013, by Annette Fricke

'A Prayer to God the Father on the Vigil of Pentecost' by Thomas Merton
Today, Father, this blue sky lauds you. The delicate green and orange flowers of the tulip poplar tree praise you. The distant blue hills praise you, together with the sweet-smelling air that is full of brilliant light. The bickering flycatchers praise you with the lowing cattle and the quail that whistle over there. I too, Father, praise you, with all these my sisters and brothers, and they give voice to my own heart and to my own silence. We are all one silence, and a diversity of voices.
You have made us together, you have made us one and many, you have placed me here, in the midst as witness, as awareness, and as joy. Here I am. In me the world is present, and you are present. I am a link in the chain of light and of presence.
Whatever may have been my particular stupidity, the prayers of your friends and my own prayers have somehow been answered, and I am here, in this solitude, before you, and I am glad because you see me here. For it is here, I think, that you want to see me and I am seen by you. My being here is a response you have asked of me, to something I have not clearly heard. But I have responded, and I am content: there is little more to know about it at present.

Pentecost is the Greek name for the Feast of Weeks, a prominent feast in the calendar of ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai. This feast is still celebrated as Shavuot, which also includes the celebration of the first fruits of the harvest. Later, in the Christian liturgical year, it is also a feast commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the twelve Apostles of Christ.

In the Eastern church, Pentecost can also refer to the whole fifty days between Easter and Pentecost, hence the book containing the liturgical texts for Paschaltide is called the Pentecostarion. The feast is also called Whit Sunday, or Whitsun,especially in England, where the following Monday was traditionally a holiday. Pentecost is celebrated seven weeks (50 days) after Easter Sunday, hence its name. Pentecost falls on the tenth day after Ascension Thursday.

Among Christians, Pentecost commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Twelve Apostles and other followers of Jesus as described in the Acts of the Apostles 2:1–31. For this reason, Pentecost is sometimes described by some Christians today as the "Birthday of the Church."

The Pentecostal movement of Christianity derives its name from the New Testament event.

The biblical narrative of Pentecost, where the 11 Disciples of Christ (Acts 1:13, 26), along with about 109 other individuals (Acts 1:15), including many women, among whom was Mary the mother of Jesus (Acts 1:14), received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room, is given in the second chapter of the Book of Acts. As recounted in Acts 2:1–6:

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When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.”

While those on whom the Spirit had descended were speaking in many languages, the Apostle Peter stood up with the eleven and proclaimed to the crowd that this event was the fulfillment of the prophecy ("I will pour out my spirit") In Acts 2:17, it reads: "' In the last days it will be,' God declares, 'I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams." Acts 2:41 then reports: "So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added."

Peter stated that this event was the beginning of a continual outpouring that would be available to all believers from that point on, Jews and Gentiles alike.

Traditional interpretation holds that the Descent of the Holy Spirit took place in the Upper Room, or Cenacle, while celebrating the day of Pentecost (Shavuot). The Upper Room was first mentioned in Luke 22:12-13 (“And he shall show you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. And they went, and found as he had said to them: and they made ready the passover."). This Upper Room was to be the location of the Last Supper and the institution of Holy Communion. The next mention of an Upper Room is in Acts 1:13-14, the continuation of the Luke narrative, authored by the same biblical writer. Here the disciples and women wait and they gave themselves up to constant prayer: "And when they had come in, they went up into an upper room, where there was present both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his friends." Then, in Acts 2:1–2, "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting." The "place" is in reference to the same Upper Room where these persons had "continued with one accord in prayer and supplication".

This description of the beginning of the Church tells us quite succinctly what the early Church was all about. It is even more simply put in verse 42 of this second chapter of Acts: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”  As Christianity spread throughout the world, Christians adopted many different practices as to what they heard from the preaching and teaching and how to go about structuring the worship and administration of the community of believers.  “What did Jesus really say?” and “What did Jesus really mean?” continue to be studied by mainline denominations.  The popularity of the abbreviation WWJD seems to have died out—WWJD meaning, “What would Jesus do?”  And yet, at a certain level, this is a question we need to have in mind on a daily moment by moment basis.  If Jesus were here in the flesh once again on earth, what would he do and how would he address the various situations and issues we now face in our world?  God now leaves that up to us, having given us the resources and opportunities to be Jesus’ presence in the world. Catherine of Sienna’s answer is this: “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” the first Christian pyromaniac!  Her answer is to have zeal enough to set the world on fire, not literally of course, but to take the word of God very seriously.  Think of it this way: the world used to marvel at martyrs---now the world celebrates celebrities. What do you celebrate?