Dear New McKendree Church Family,

According to the church calendar, the Day of Pentecost is just around the corner…June 8^th, to be exact.  That being the case, if someone were to ask you, “What in the wide, wide world of sports is Pentecost?” how would you answer?  For those of you who’ve been around the church for a while, I’m thinking you’d probably have no trouble fielding such a question.  First, you’d likely mention right up front that Pentecost has nothing to do with sports, athletics, or anything of the sort.  With that misconception put to rest, you’d probably go on to say something about it being a birthday celebration of sorts; specifically, the Church’s birthday.  You might even venture to back up your birthday analogy by referencing Acts 2, the account of the day that the Church as we know it came into being.  And then, feeling like you were on a roll, you’d likely go on to tell your inquirer some of the details that Luke records in his Acts 2 telling of the amazing birth of the Church; details about how people from all different backgrounds, from all different places, and speaking all different languages “were all together in one place” (Acts 2:1), and, in spite of having nothing in common, were forged together and made one by God’s Presence.

If that’s how you’d respond to the “What in the wide, wide world of sports is Pentecost?” question, then kudos...you nailed it.  In a nutshell, that’s how the Church came into being.  But, if you think about it, there’s more to it than that.  In Acts, it says that after the original Pentecost participants were transformed and came into being as a Church, they began doing things differently.  Things like “devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord's Supper), and to prayer” (Acts 2:41-42).

You see, Church is about both being and doing; it’s a noun and a verb.  That means being a Church and doing Church go together.  Being is fundamental, and doing is the natural result.

That’s why we celebrate on the Day of Pentecost, in my opinion; the day the Church came into being as a community and the day that we, as its members, began doing the work of reflecting God’s loving, saving, and transforming presence in the world.

Your brother in Christ,

Pastor Bryan Wendling