When the Anglican Journal asked clergy and scholars to explain the significance of Pentecost, which takes place on the seventh Sunday after Easter, it heard diverse interpretations reflective of the biblical story behind the feast day.
Those who spoke to the Journal variously described Pentecost as the “birthday of the church,” a time for listening and a symbol of empowerment and freedom. Woven through these interpretations is a common thread: the presence of the Holy Spirit transcending all barriers of language and identity and empowering believers to spread the gospel.
Pentecostal theologian Amos Yong, professor of theology and mission at Fuller Theological Seminary and author of the book Mission After Pentecost, says for many Christians, “Pentecost allows us to focus on, receive, acknowledge, welcome the Holy Spirit … Pentecost gives us a window, at least for one Sunday during the year, for some churches saying something about the Holy Spirit.”
The narrative of Pentecost—which coincides with the Jewish festival of Shavuot—in the Acts of the Apostles follows the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, as his disciples gather in Jerusalem along with “devout Jews from every people under heaven.” The Holy Spirit fills each of the disciples accompanied by “a sound like the rush of a violent wind,” giving them the ability to speak “about God’s deeds of power” in the native languages of all the peoples.
Two Anglicans and former Pentecostals who spoke to the Journal describe Pentecost as reversing the Old Testament story of Babel, in which God prevents humans from building a tower to the sky by fragmenting their speech into different languages.
Robbie Walker, a researcher currently finishing his PhD in theological studies at the Toronto School of Theology, says that “Pentecost is the reversal of the power dynamics of Babel, because now all the languages are understood by the people.” The Rev. Derwyn Costinak, incumbent at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Calgary, says rather than “keeping people from understanding each other, now God is taking the initiative to make the changing of languages irrelevant.”
Canon Preston Parsons, rector of the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Kitchener, Ont. and a Canadian Anglican member of the International Pentecostal-Anglican Commission, an ongoing ecumenical dialogue, says the breaking of language barriers shows the universal interest of the Holy Spirit in communicating God’s work to all nations.
“This is one of the reasons why Christians have no trouble with the idea of translation,” Preston says, drawing a comparison with the role of the Arabic language in Islam.
“Muslims are quite strict about Arabic because that’s the word in which the revelation came in Islam,” he says. “But for Christians, we’re very happy to translate into different cultures and into different languages because of this founding story that tells us that the work of God can be communicated to all people and in all languages.”
National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop Chris Harper says the biggest lesson of Pentecost for the Anglican Church of Canada today is the need to listen to one another.
“Language is identity,” Harper says. “That’s one of the things we say in the Indigenous circles … Not being able to speak your own language [as Indigenous people in Canada were prevented from doing under colonial policies] was a process of assimilation … of being made into some other body or another form.”
For Indigenous ministries, “if the church doesn’t hear us, what we’re doing, then they hear separation,” he says. “They hear different things … The biggest challenge before us, especially coming up to Pentecost, is that of listening to each other—and at the same time, hearing what we’re called to be as Christians, to be called into the body as one.”
In the Book of Acts, Peter addresses the crowd with a sermon that recalls God’s declaration that he would pour out his Spirit “even upon my slaves, both men and women” and describes the resurrection of Jesus. The book details life among the first Christian converts, noting, “All who believed were together and had all things in common.”
The Rev. Wilson Akinwale, national chair of Black Anglicans of Canada, says for Christians of African heritage, Pentecost is a symbol of liberation and empowerment.
Christians such as Martin Luther King Jr., Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Bishop of Washington Mariann Budde who have spoken out on behalf of the vulnerable and oppressed, Akinwale says, embody Pentecost’s “spirit of justice, of liberation, of making a difference in the world … of working with other people regardless of their faith or religion. They are being guided with that spirit of Pentecost to do wonders.”
That same call from God, he says, applies to all believers. “Pentecost is not about us. It’s about who God is and how God is using us as an instrument of righteousness, of peace and justice and reconciliation in the world. And we have to go out there to make that impact.”
Christians observe Pentecost this year on May 24.
