“Firsts” are memorable. I remember the first day at my first job, my first kiss with the beautiful lady who would become my wife, and seeing each of our children for the first time.

Pentecost is about firsts. Pentecost (Pentēkostē – “the fiftieth day”) is the Greek name for the Feast of First Fruits (also Feast of Weeks/Harvest, compare Leviticus 23:9-22) which occurred 50 days after the first grain offering from the harvest. It is also the commemoration of the first coming of God’s Holy Spirit on each of the disciples which occurred 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

theStory of the Bible is one continuous narrative from its beginning in the book of Genesis through its finale in the book of Revelation, and what a story it is! That’s not to say that it is fictional or myth, a format that can’t be trusted to impart the truth. No; it is presented as story because we hear deep truth best when it is conveyed as a story.

Take a moment to savour theStory today. It’s all about innocence. Yesterday’s reading describes the creation of all that exists, today we see God bringing all that now exists into context. Streams emerge from the earth to water the ground. From the ground a man is formed and in an act of intimacy God breathes the breath of life into his nostrils and he becomes a living being.

When reading theStory yesterday, I asked you to take a moment and savour it. I hope you did because in the vast canon of scripture from Genesis to Revelation, it is only in these two readings that the story exists free from blemish. Genesis 1 concludes with “… it was very good” (v 31). Genesis 2 wraps up with “…  they felt no shame” (v 25).

Why does the story have to go this way? When given perfection, why does it get spoilt? Why do kids get sick, relationships break, people hurt each other and countries go to war?

From this point on we see a divergence between those who follow God and those who go their own way until the culmination in the one man who stops this pattern of rebellion against God, the one who “crushes the serpent’s head”

The Psalmists were people who spoke to God out of covenant relationship with him. Their words ring with authenticity, reaching us across vast distances of time and culture, touching our minds, our emotions and our spirits.