Pentecost Diversity

June 4, 2017 ()

Bible Text: Acts 2:1-21 |

Pentecost is the birthday of the church.  We celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit and the empowering of the Church.  Some interpreters see Pentecost as the solution to the Tower of Babel but I'm not sold on the idea that somehow Pentecost re-unites us in language and culture.  Pentecost is a celebration of the Spirit's power to enhance our hearing, no matter what language we speak.  There are some deep human connections that do not depend on culture, race, gender or religious homogeneity.  While in Turkey on Sabbatical my heart was touched just as deeply by the poverty in rural communities as it is in the U.S. when I see people begging on the streets.  I'm just as touched by kids playing and laughing on a playground in Syria or people greeting each other with a hug as I am seeing it at home.  The language of the Spirit is deep and meaningful beyond words and we can sense the Gospel in a world away just as powerfully as we can within our church family.

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