On the Day of Pentecost many will turn their thoughts to the story of the birth of the church in Acts 2. But we are also given Romans 8:22-27 to consider.
Paul speaks of vision and hope – not a hope of going back to some former “golden age”, even the events of that first outpouring of the Spirit on Jesus followers. He recognises that we have not “arrived”, that we live in a situation still incomplete. Our present life is not the final stage, and we look forward. Vision is always important, but the content of the vision also matters.
Paul encourages us to “our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies”, that is the full experience of God’s love and transformation which will come after our life on earth. This isn’t all there is, and however hard we look to anticipate God’s Kingdom, in our relationships, our service and our worship, there is more and better to come. We can be confident of that because of what God has promised.
The second thing is that, even though we don’t really know what we should be praying for, the Spirit prays for us and guides. It is another source of confidence. We are not guided only by human plans and projects, but by God the Holy Spirit. We can join in with that prayer – “thy kingdom come, thy will be done” is a well known phrase, which acquires greater meaning, as do phrases like “in Jesus name”, “through Jesus Christ our Lord”. Praying in tongues is also an action which helps offer our obedience and encourages us to take direction.
Pentecost added a new celebration to the festival of harvest and the giving of the Law when the Holy Spirit arrived so dramatically. We rejoice in that, but our Spirit given vision looks forward, to what is yet to come in God’s mercy and grace.