The Holy Spirit

At Whitsuntide in the North of England many churches still organise processions through their towns to celebrate Pentecost which is said to be when the Holy Spirit first affected men and women. Going back over fifty years when I first took part the numbers of churches and the numbers of participants was great. The annual procession had a route of about two and a half miles. Many people who lived along the route would bring out chairs to sit on as the procession slowly wound past.

Today, where the processions still take place there are fewer churches taking part because many have closed and their buildings have either gone or been put to a new use. The numbers attending church have also dropped off andf so today's processions, rather than promote Pentecost, show how poorlly attended and supported today's churches are.

The occasion that was the cause of the celebrations still remains an important date in the Christian Calendar. It was a time when the apostles had recovered from the death of Jesus through his resurrection and had said their farewells at his acension. Now was the time to take an important and dramatic step forward in the name of their friend. Now was the time that they had to begin their own ministry to follow that of Jesus. It was marked by a remarkable event, the coming of the Holy Spirit.

As the apostles were speaking to the people who included many from far off parts the crowd realised they were hearing the message in their own language. Additionally they saw tongues of flame resting on the apostles as a visual sign. Even today we cannot explain these truly remakable events. Yet it all marked the moment when the early church took on a very special power that has remained ever since.

Churches today look back to this time as the point when the Holy Spirit first occurred. Yet this is not the case if you are to read other earlier stories. When Jesus promised the Holy Spirit this is what he said: ""Nevertheless I assure you that it is in your interest that I am leaving you. If I do not go, the advocate will not come, whereas if I go, I will send him to you.....................when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but will speak only what he hears; and he will make known to you what is to come."

I personally believe that there was always such a thing as the Holy Spirit and that at Pentecost it came in abundance to mark the day and send the church on its way. The idea of speaking in tongues is older than Pentecost. You can find an Old Testament story of King Saul experiencing ecstatic utterance. Go back to Genesis Chapter one and read in verse 2: "the spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water."

So the Holy Spirit has always been with us. At Pentecost it manifested itself in a very dramatic fashion to convince all present that it was the new force to reckon with. Since that day the Holy Spirit has strengthened Christians worlwide and made them able to do remarkable things that would not have happened out of their own strength. From time to time people have witnessed the Holy Spirit at work and can testify to its presence and strength. The Holy Spirit is literally the power of the church. This is why some authorities hate Christianity and try to suppress or eradicate it. They know that there is something so remarkable about Christianity that makes it capable of resisting them and undermining their efforts to retain great power.

Ultimately, the church that follows the Holy Spirit is invincible. But although this is true we see so many fail in their mission. I think it is probably because they copied Peter, who, when he looked down and saw the water he was walking on suddenly lost faith and began to sink. Yet the power is here for us if we wish to win for God. The days are coming when the United Kingdom will see a new "church" that depends not upon buildings but on the Holy Spirit. Our old ways of clinging to buildings for security will be discredited as the Spirit reminds us we are here to win men and women for Christ, not spend money on already crumbling buildings.