Upperrhondda.files.wordpress.com



|MINI MAG 8 – Pentecost |

|31st May - Pentecost in Jerusalem |

On that long ago first morning of Pentecost, Jerusalem was crowded with thousands of visitors, for it was one of the most popular feast-days in the Jewish calendar – the Feast of Firstfruits, looking forward to the wheat harvest.

In one small room of that great city, a small group of people who had followed Jesus were praying. There was nothing else for them to do: Jesus had died, He had risen, and He had ascended, promising to send them ‘a Comforter’. They were left alone, to wait at Jerusalem. And so, they waited – on Him, and for Him.

They were not disappointed, for that morning the Holy Spirit fell upon that small room, and transformed those believers into the Church, Christ’s body here on earth. Pentecost was not the first time that the Holy Spirit came to the world – throughout the Old Testament there are stories telling of how God had guided people and given them strength. But now His Spirit would use a new instrument: not just isolated prophets, but the Church, His body on earth.

Acts opens with the preaching of the gospel in Jerusalem, the centre of the Jewish nation. Within 30 years the Gospel had spread throughout the northern Mediterranean: Syria, Turkey, Greece, Malta... to the very heart of the Roman Empire: Rome. The Church was on the move – God was on the move! He was calling people from every nation to repent, turn to Jesus for forgiveness of their sins, and to follow Him.

|God in the Arts |

| |

|The National Gallery at Trafalgar Square in London houses one of the finest collections of European paintings in the world, with some |

|2,300 works spanning the centuries. Here we explore one of those treasures. By the Revd Michael Burgess. |

[pic]

Over the last years praying ‘Thy kingdom come’ has become an important part of church life for the days between Ascension and Pentecost. It has been promoted by church leaders, who have encouraged Christians to follow the pattern of Mary, the mother of our Lord, and the disciples. St Luke tells us in Acts how they gathered in an upper room to pray, while they waited for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

It is the theme of the above painting from the National Gallery – a panel depicting the first Pentecost painted by Barnaba da Modena, a prolific Italian artist, in 1377. Here we look into that upper room and see Mary and the twelve, their hands in prayer, and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove into their lives.

The disciples had seen their Lord ascend to the Father, and they must have returned from that mount to Jerusalem expectant, but also concerned and anxious about what the future held for them. Afraid and uncertain, they devoted themselves to prayer. The artist has shown us the gift of the Holy Spirit that marks the birthday of the Church and a new day in their lives. The doors of that upper room may have been closed to the world, but the Spirit came to open them and inspire the disciples to go into that world with a new purpose and hope. The closed world of fear and anxiety was changed by their prayer and by the working of the Holy Spirit.

In the days from Ascension to Pentecost we follow that tradition of prayer. We may also be concerned and anxious about our world and our lives. The Spirit calls us to move from fear to trust. Someone calculated that the words ‘Do not be afraid’ occur 365 times in the Bible – one for the great day of Pentecost, and one for every other day in the rest of the year.

|What a Difference a Day Makes |

The Day of Pentecost

(Acts 2)

From prophecy to fulfilment,

from fear to courage,

from confusion to conviction,

from despair to certain hope,

from head to heart,

from longing to knowing,

from weakness to strength,

from paralysis to power.

What a difference a day makes -

The Day of Pentecost

when the Spirit came

and everything was different and possible…

by Daphne Kitching

|PHANTOM OF THE OPERA |

|Wales Millennium Centre |

Some of you will have expressed an interest in seeing this show next January. I have had an email from the Wales Millennium Centre stating the show has been cancelled due to the continuing Covid-19 pandemic.

[pic]

|ANSWERS TO LAST WEEKS CROSSWORD |

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download