When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. . . . All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. —Acts 2:1, 4
In a great and loved hymn by Christopher Wordsworth this idea is set forth with great beauty and unanswerable logic. After praising the first day as a "day of rest and gladness" and a "day of joy and light . . . Most beautiful, most bright," he gives three sound reasons for celebrating it:
On thee, at the creation, The light first had its birth; On thee, for our salvation, Christ rose from depths of earth;
On thee, our Lord, victorious, The Spirit sent from heaven; And thus on thee, most glorious, A triple light was given.
On the first day light had its birth; on the first day Christ arose; on the first day the Holy Spirit descended. Though there is much other truth to support this, for a true follower of Christ no stronger argument is needed. On the first day he will love to remember Christ's triumph; and each first day will be to him a reminder that Christ rose from depths of earth.
Thank God for the Easter season that serves in some measure to focus the attention of Christians upon that great rock of their historic faith, "Christ is risen!" We can hardly make too much of it. So we shout with the hymnist,
Lift your glad voices in triumph on high, For Jesus hath risen, and man shall not die!
Prayer
Father, may I make Sunday a special day of worship—not the only day of the week for worship but a special day.
Thought
The day of Pentecost fell on the first day of the week. On that day the Holy Spirit came in fulfillment of Christ's promise. Distinctive, then, is the first day, Sunday. Christ arose! The Spirit came! All of which brings eternal light to us as believers.
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