There are three major holy days (hence our word 'holiday') in the Christian year. The first is Christmas, the second is Easter and the last is Pentecost or Whitsun. While most people know plenty about the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, the celebration of Pentecost is less understood.

Pentecost is remembered as the day that the Holy Spirit came to Earth and filled Christians with the Power of God. If this had not happened, the first handful of disciples would have remained as they were and faith in Jesus as the Saviour of the world would have not got beyond their children. But filled with the strength and boldness of God's firery presence, they were able to do the very things that Jesus did himself. Hence, Pentecost is sometimes referred to as the birthday of the church.

Why is it called Pentecost? Well, the day this occurred coincided with the Jewish feast known as the 'Festival of Weeks' or Shavout. This feast was seven weeks (or fifty days) after Passover and marked two events in the Jewish calendar. First was a thanksgiving for the wheat harvest and the second was to remember the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses. It is interesting that God chose this day to make the church 'fruitful' and to deeply touch people's lives. The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel said that there would come a time when God wrote the Law directly upon human hearts.

What God started that day, he has continued to do every single day since that first day of Pentecost. When we start to turn our lives towards God and begin to discover more about Jesus, we are not on a dry intellectual programme or some deluded imaginative quest. The Spirit of God draws near to us so we can know God intimately - as our teacher, corrector, creator and lover. Do you really want to know God? He is just a word away. Invite the Holy Spirit to make the love and power of God real for you. He is waiting to make today YOUR Pentecost.

Pentecost Sunday is the 15th May. Come and share our birthday celebration!

We also celebrate Ascension Day on 5th May at 7.00pm.