Protestant Christianity Expanded Observance: Pentecost
This Christian observance celebrates the coming of The Holy Spirit to the first followers of the founder of Christianity, Jesus of Nazareth. Nazareth is a town, which is located in Israel. In the Christian faith, the Holy Spirit is the power, presence, and activity of God as well as the continuing presence of Jesus.
The coming of the Holy Spirit took place fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection about 33 A.D. This took place as Jesus’ followers were meeting to celebrate the Jewish observance of Shavout, the thanksgiving for the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures). This was not unusual, as Jesus and his first followers were Jewish.
One of Jesus’ disciples, Luke, the author of The Bible’s New Testament Book of Acts (Acts 2:1-42) reported that there was a sudden sound “like the rush of a mighty wind” followed by “tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them”. The result of this was that each person began to speak in other “tongues” or different languages understood by Jews and followers from many nations.
To these first Christians this event represented the fulfillment of Jesus’ last words to his followers before His ascension into heaven that “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem (then capital of Palestine) and in all Judea and Samaria (provinces in Palestine) and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
Thus empowered, Jesus’ followers began to speak of His message to others. Therefore this observance is celebrated in Christianity as the birthday of the Church. The word “pentecost” is from the Greek meaning “fiftieth”. Throughout Christianity Pentecost is celebrated on the seventh Sunday, or fifty days after Easter.
