Last week, Sandi and I celebrated our wedding anniversary near Bar Harbor, Maine. We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast with our wonderful hosts, Jack and Jean. We especially enjoyed sitting out on their porch enjoying magnificent views of Frenchman Bay and the Maine coastline. But the most impressive feature of all was hidden from the porch. A short walk down into their back yard led to a wooden staircase. Seventy-eight stairs down from our cliff-side dwelling exposed the rocky base that our home was built upon. This place was appropriately named, “Cathedral Rock.”

We were in a beautiful place, but had no idea of the grand foundation that we were resting upon. The layers of this formation are a window into the history of God’s hand shaping this beautiful place. We spent hours admiring and exploring the foundation and surrounding area known as “The Ovens,” which were great cave-like impressions carved from the rock that flood with the tides. As I reflect on the hidden beauty that lay underneath our brief stay in Maine, Cathedral Rock has a story to tell of the church.

This weekend we remember two holidays: Memorial Day and Pentecost. Both are occasions that afford the opportunity to examine the foundations we so comfortably rest upon. If we fail to get up from our porch-side rocking chairs, we are left with only the superficial surroundings. As wonderful as holiday picnics and religious festivals may be, these are annual observances meant to take us to a greater view.

Pentecost is a Jewish “first-fruits festival” celebrating and offering the first crops to God. Memorial Day remembers those who sacrificed their lives as a kind of first-fruit of our liberty. Both look below the surface to our foundations. They also anticipate “new crops” of first-fruit offerings in new generations. Christians recall one particular Pentecost, recorded in the Book of Acts. This occasion would be the first-fruit to grow out of the seeds of eternal liberty sown with Jesus’ life. His healing and teaching, his suffering and death, his resurrection and promised return would not be superficial moments in history. They would bear fruit, fruit that would last. God, the Holy Spirit, would make sure that this seed would become a mission that would take root and bear fruit from one generation to the next, connecting people to the blessings of life and liberty that are eternal in Jesus.

Jesus is the rock and foundation upon which the true Christian faith is built. When I think of the great buildings we call “cathedrals,” far too many of them are museums rather than living, active communities of faith. It’s not because the foundation is faulty. It is because they lost sight of their base. A cathedral that is living and active is where people are gathered around Jesus. It is where the tides of God’s word are flowing over and over us, regenerating our lives. It is where the wind of the Holy Spirit is awakening souls, counseling hearts, uniting with prayer and calling us to service. The living and active Church is actually uncomfortable just sitting on the porch. It is aroused to climb up and down its foundations with daily and weekly devotion. It embraces new seasons where the Holy Spirit raises up from His people “first-fruit offerings” as living memorials and testimonials to Jesus.

Memorial Day (and our Pentecost celebration) ushers in the unofficial beginning of summer for our culture. For many it will be a time to sit on the porch and enjoy the view. But if you want summer to produce some fruit in your life, get a little exercise. Climb down and explore the cliffs. Let’s open our bibles and hands in prayer during this good old summertime. Let’s recommit ourselves to worship, service and contributions as a first-fruit offering of all the good things we anticipate from this glorious time of year. Let’s pray for and participate in the Holy Spirit’s work of a revival across the land and even beyond to the ends of the earth. Let’s embrace a greater vision of what God has planned for our summer.

"I will pour out my Spirit on all people… sons and daughters… men and women… I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below… and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (c.f. Acts 2:17-21)

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