The name Pentecost comes from the Greek word "fiftieth." The historian Josephus had called the Jewish festival of Shavuot, which comes the 50th day after the 1st day of Passover, Pentecost. Later this name, Pentecost, was transferred to the remembrance of another piece of Jewish history that occurred 50 days after another Passover, the giving of the law to Moses at Sinai. In the Christian church Pentecost became the 50th day after Easter, and Easter became a "season," the "Great Fifty Days of Easter." Pentecost came to be understood as important for Christians as the day the life-giving Torah had been given through Moses to the Hebrew people. For on this day the very Spirit that moved over the waters in creation brings into being a new creation, the household of faith- the church.

Paul put it this way in his letter to the infant church in Rome: "All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. ... When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God ... For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God." The miracle of Pentecost wasn't flames or tongues of fire, but God's calling to life God's people, God's children. It was the fulfillment of Jesus' promise to his followers, as told by John: "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ... The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid." 

The miracle of Pentecost is the gift of God's Holy Spirit to do something as awesome as creation, as dramatic as the Torah coming in the cloud that surrounded Mt. Sinai. The miracle of Pentecost is God's adopting US as full members of the household of faith - all those who will allow themselves to be led by the Spirit to become God's children. The miracle of Pentecost comes in the courage of the first Christian community to have confidence that in a world of kings competing for power and authority, and in the world of all the monarchies, and presidents, and tyrants that were to come, the invitation to become God's children is accepted by the simple uttering of the name of God the creator: Abba, Father. As Paul wrote to the church in Rome: "When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!' it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ."

The Spirit that arrived at Pentecost was not a new Spirit. What was new was that it was being spilled out into the world of ordinary humanity, spilled out to give new life to creation itself. In Paul's words, "We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves."