Christ’s First-fruits

If it seems like we just recently sang many of the psalms and hymns in this morning’s service, you’re absolutely correct! Many of these pieces were chosen for the service on May 19 to align with the church calendar (May 19 was Pentecost Sunday this year). This week, the story of Pentecost from Acts 2 is our sermon text. Once again, we’ll celebrate the coming of the “Great Comforter,” “highest gift of God most high.” Echoing the language of “a mighty, rushing wind” and “tongues of fire” in the Pentecost narrative, Psalms 29 and 104 describe God riding on the winds and His voice as “flaming in fire.” We thank the Lord for bestowing this “holy flame” on us, just as He did on the disciples in the upper room. We pray for the Spirit to “fall fresh on us,” and we thank the Lord for promising the Spirit’s help “until the work on earth is done.” We take comfort in the promise that the Spirit will purify us, molding our wills and affections to those of God, and we trust that even when we wander from His ways Jesus’ Spirit will draw us home to Him. As we walk through this service, let’s pray that we will leave this morning filled with the “breath of God,” glowing with the “fire divine” that ignited in the hearts of the first Christians in Jerusalem two thousand years ago. —Henry C. Haffner