By Alison Gardner - By Alison Gardner, Salvation Army Lieutenant

IT is a strange thing, this Pentecost. On Saturday the church will hold a celebration on Church Green and most people out in the town will not know why.

This yearly event has been the Church's main opportunity to show Jesus in all his reality, yet somehow the general perception of Jesus is still as the chorus of a Salvation Army song says:

'Tell of the baby in the

manger laid,

Sent from heaven above;

Tell them how for them he

was a ransom paid,'

A helpless babe or a

dying man!

When in fact Pentecost

today is a celebration of

how Jesus is, a personality full of potential, power

and encouragement.

David J Evans puts it this

way in his song...

'Be Still, for the glory of

the Lord is shining all

around;

He burns with holy fire,

with splendour He is

crowned.

How awesome is the

sight, our radiant King of

light!

Be still, for the glory of

the Lord is shining all

around.'

Where are the greeting cards, the gifts and the chocolate?

Why isn't this picture of a strong, positive Jesus splashed all over the media and shops?

Why aren't our children saying: 'I want to be like him?'

In Hebrew 1 v3, it says Jesus is an 'exact representation' of God.

Then in Ephesians 5 v1, the church is encouraged to be 'imitators of God'.

As followers of Christ, should the church be following the reality, not the general perception?

The Salvation Army chorus goes on to say:

'Tell them with your lips

and with your actions too, ...

Tell it out with a shout, ...Christ for the whole wide

world.'

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.