COLUMN: Grey Matters – God is a sentimental God

“Sentimentality is simply the heart’s way of remembering what the mind never wants to let go.” -Anonymous

Did you know that God is sentimental? In the church calendar we recently celebrated Pentecost Sunday which was a special Jewish day long before that. The original Pentecost festival was a celebration of the Torah (law of God) to Israel. “The law would shape them as a people with whom God would dwell. God’s presence with them would be evidenced in the tabernacle that traveled with them. On the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, God comes to indwell his people, the new temple, by the Holy Spirit” (Stanley W. Green). Pentecost for the Israelites is also about offering the first fruits of their barley harvest to God, which is comparable to the next Pentecost where God offers us the first fruits of the Spirit.

Surely God could have sent the Holy Spirit as soon as Jesus was resurrected and ascended, but He waited until the festival day of Pentecost. ‘Pentecost’ literally means ‘count 50 or fiftieth’. Numbers are important to God, especially the number 50, which is the special year of Jubilee in the Old Testament. Maybe God likes to build on our human understanding to make it more memorable for minds and hearts? Could it be that a sentimentality like this helps us remember the things we should never let go of? This type of holy sentimentality is not a weakness; it is the heart remembering what truly matters. In this context, to be sentimental is to honor the moments that shape us and the sacred events that fill our lives with meaning.

This Pentecost the church I work at had several people praying in their mother tongue at the same time! It gave us a sense of what it would have felt like during the Pentecost in Acts 2 when numerous Galilean believers were speaking in foreign languages after receiving the Holy Spirit. What seemed like tongues of fire appeared and rested above them as they met for prayer in Jerusalem and then in the streets Jews who had gathered from different nations for the Pentecost Festival heard them speaking in their own native language. They were amazed. The Holy Spirit made it clear that day that the Good News is for all nations! One old church tradition for Pentecost Sunday is to scatter red rose petals (which resemble tongues of fire) on the people as they enter the church that day. We should do more to commemorate Pentecost!

On Pentecost, we remember a moment that changed everything. Ordinary people suddenly filled with courage, clarity, and conviction. The disciples, once fearful and hidden, stepped into the open and spoke words that reached hearts from many nations. After this they were no longer known as the disciples, but the apostles. And the church was born.

Pentecost is not just an event in history – it is the beginning of a new kind of life. Pentecost reminds us that faith is not merely about remembering what God has done but receiving what God is still doing. Easter proclaims that Christ is risen, but Pentecost proclaims that Christ is present – alive in and among us through the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit that hovered over creation, that breathed life into humanity, that raised Jesus from the dead, now fills and empowers us. We are not left on our own. The Spirit gives us more than comfort; the Spirit gives us direction. When we are uncertain, the Spirit guides. When we are weak, the Spirit strengthens. When we are divided, the Spirit unites. Pentecost is God’s answer to human limitation – it is divine life meeting human need.

And yet, Pentecost also challenges us. The first Pentecost shattered barriers. People from different languages and cultures suddenly understood one another. The Spirit did not erase diversity; but worked through it. This is a powerful vision for our world today. In a time marked by division, misunderstanding, and noise, Pentecost reminds us that true unity does not come from uniformity, but from shared openness to God.

Pentecost calls the Church to be something different – to be a community where people listen deeply, speak truthfully, and love boldly. The Spirit does not come to leave us as we are. The Spirit moves us outward, just as it moved the early believers out of locked rooms and onto the streets.

Come, Holy Spirit.

Gary Dyck is a chaplain and spiritual care provider at a hospital and personal care home in the Southeast.