SPRING IS MY FAVORITE! 6/12/11

SPRING this year has been late in coming. But I
do believe it is here. As I took my morning walk I was fully aware of the new growth of life and smells all around me. Most of the scents were many odors of many flowers, that blended together to bring forth a bouquet of perfume. You can’t quite put your finger on each fragrance, but you are aware of it’s soothing, tantalizing mixture all at the same time.

WE EVENTUALLY become accustomed to the early birds chirping at sunrise. We eventually forget to look at the colors that come with spring. We become so use to smells that we forget to smell the fragrances and then, low and behold we are in summer! But I decided this morning that springtime is my favorite. I love all the seasons but I love watching for the annuals to bloom and wait for the perennials to start popping up. The leaves on the trees budding, and with some blooming so profusely, it takes my breath away.

OUR CALENDAR is usually set to show Easter as coming in March or April. It depends upon the moon! I don’t know how they figure out all of that, but I am just happy that a date is shown on our calendar so we will not forget. But because that is when we celebrate Easter, the resurrection of our Lord, the Christian should have it noted on their calendar that 50 days later is when the church began. Pentecost, means fiftieth, which is why we call the seventh Sunday after Easter, Pentecost Sunday and should be a yearly celebration for the Christian. Peter preached the first sermon and the Holy Spirit made it possible for all to understand in their own language, and the church began to permeate the air!

THE JEWS celebrated the Passover every year after God established it. It was to remember their march from man’s control and slavery, into God’s intervention and freedom. While the Israelites remembered God, times were good. When they forgot Him and His law, things were bad! When Hezekiah rediscovered the law, he called for a great Passover celebration. Hezekiah did what was right in the sight of God! Then the law was lost once more. Life was hard once again and then the boy king Josiah found the law. He called for an even greater Passover celebration. Josiah did what was right in the sight of God! Then the law was lost once again. This was the pattern of days of old! Our world has learned nothing from the past, for we too forget to remember God!

IT WAS springtime when the church began. It was springtime when Jesus ascended into the heavens! It was springtime when the Apostles went to Jerusalem to wait for the Holy Spirit. It was springtime in a barren and desolate land when the church took wings and budded and blossomed all over the land of Judea and Israel, in and around the Roman Empire. It was springtime when over 3000 people repented and were baptized. It was springtime when all things became new and the Christian movement moved like streams of water opening up channels, while the floodgates of hell began to shudder.

THEN PAUL came on the scene! “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was built up; and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit it was multiplied.” Acts 9:31 What an exciting and dangerous time for the church! They spoke in codes in order to fellowship and to further the kingdom. We live in an exciting and dangerous time for the church. Are we bold enough? Are we standing firm? Do we celebrate our freedom in Christ Jesus on Pentecost Sunday as the Jews celebrated God at the Passover feasts?

TODAY is Pentecost Sunday! This is 50 days after the Passover or the seventh Sunday after Easter; 40 days after the Ascension of Jesus Christ. Is your church celebrating? I hope so! We look forward to the seasons designed by God when He created the heavens and the earth; why is it we can’t look forward to celebrating His church? Jim’s Sunday School class will be celebrating this event this morning; and what a celebration it will be. By Jane Ann Crenshaw 6/9/11