It was probably in the spring of the year 30 AD that Jesus was crucified, and three days later he was raised for the dead.  Seven weeks after that there came the first Pentecost (Whitsunday), when God the Holy Spirit was given to the Apostles and the Christian Church was formed and has continued to grow ever since to this day.  That is why Pentecost is sometimes called the Birthday of the Church.

Perhaps when we read or hear about what happened on the first Pentecost and remember that it is now well over nineteen hundred years ago, it all seems far, far away in the distant past.