O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Collect For Pentecost Sunday

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

The day of Pentecost was remarkable because of its three distinct phenomena, which served to make it perfectly clear that God had indeed come by His Spirit to manifest his Son, Jesus Christ to Israel and to all the nations. There was a “sound like a mighty rushing wind” that “filled the entire house” where the believers had gathered. Then there were what looked like “tongues … of fire” dividing and resting upon them individually. And thirdly, being “filled with the Holy Spirit,” the believers “began to speak in other tongues”—that is, languages other than their own—“as the Spirit gave them utterance.” These were individually and together extraordinary and miraculous signs that point to three things.

Power

First, pentecost is power. The Holy Spirit is God’s agent of spiritual empowerment sent to empower us to live godly lives and do the work of ministry and mission. We need him today because we cannot live godly and work for God effectively without the anointing and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Passion

Second, pentecost is passion. God sent the Holy Spirit to infuse us with passion, affection, and zeal for him and for bringing people to Christ for salvation. If your love for God and love for mission is flagging and cooling off, you need to be filled with the Spirit. We need to be drunk with the Holy Spirit!

Passion

Third, pentecost is for the proclamation of the gospel to all nations and the fostering of unity of the church(Jews and Gentiles) in Christ. One of the signs that the Holy Spirit is present is the breaking of racial and tribal barriers with genuine love for one another through the gospel. Critical race theory and the social gospel do not engender racial unity in the Church. Rather, it is only in Christ Jesus through his gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit in us that we can experience unity and love across racial, linguistic, and ethnic boundaries. Pentecost was intended to signal and enable the reversal of the “Babel” in our lives and human society. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit enabled the Apostles to speak in different languages. Here is how Alistair Begg explains it:

With the coming of the Spirit and the forgiveness of sins being proclaimed in at least fifteen languages (Acts 2:9–11), Pentecost was essentially a reversal of what had happened at Babel, when human languages were confused and the nations were scattered (Genesis 11:1–9). On that unforgettable day in Jerusalem, the language barrier was supernaturally overcome as a sign that the nations would be gathered together in Christ.

Instead of assimilating all of God’s people under a common tongue, Pentecost makes clear that every language is an appropriate vehicle for the praise and the proclamation of Jesus. Ultimately, this is why Pentecost happened, why God has left us His Spirit: so that we can continue the great work of proclaiming the good news of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. One day, we will see with the apostle John “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.” And these people of every tongue will be singing the same song together: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9–10)” This is why our Diocese is committed to all nations corporately and missionary.

God commands us to be filled with the Spirit- that is- controlled by the Holy Spirit. Are you filled with Holy Spirit daily? If you are it will show in your life because there will be power, passion, purity, and a love for one another in the body and a love for the nations that propels you to share the gospel with them.

As we celebrate Pentecost Day we invite you to pray that the Lord will fill us all with the Holy Spirit and enable us gladly surrender to Him so that we will have the power and the passion to live for him, love him, proclaim his gospel to all nations, and love others irrespective of their ethnicity and language. America needs that now!

We wish you a spirit-filled Pentecost Sunday and season.

Warm regards,

The Rt Rev’d Dr Felix Orji, OSB.
Diocesan Bishop
Anglican Diocese of All Nations
Anglican Church in North America(ACNA)
Houston, Texas.