In the Season of Pentecost (Liturgical churches call it "Ordinary Time") -- God called Abram to leave his home to find a new one, and Jesus called Matthew, a tax-collector, to leave his job and “follow me.” In both testaments, we heard stories of moving from...
On Pentecost the real miraclewas not the momentary wonderof people speaking languagesthey hadn't been taught,but the lasting miracleof people making connectionsdespite all their separations,discovering how they were alikedespite apparent differences,knowing...
In the Christian tradition Pentecost is not a polite occasion. It was full of fire, wind, confusion, and a diversity of linguistic utterance. It was a divine mess. And all of this led to healing and transformation. We need more mess like this.
Unity is not the same as uniformity. Unity, in fact, is the reconciliation of differences, and those differences must be maintained. We must actually distinguish things and separate them, usually at a cost to ourselves, before we can spiritually unite them (Ephesians...
The miracle of Pentecost wasn't that everyone spoke the same, but that all were "understood" in their native tongue. The fulfillment of Gospel is not assimilation/uniformity to one culture, but rather togetherness and mutuality within diverse cultural expression....
The Holy Spirit is the unrestricted presence of God in which our life wakes up, becomes wholly and entirely living, and is endowed with the energies of life.
Throughout his Gospel, Luke shows us Jesus praying. Jesus prays before he calls his disciples, before asking them who he is, at the time of his transfiguration, before teaching his disciples how to pray, on the night of his arrest, and at his death. For Luke, what is...
Let me describe what Pentecost wasn't like, all right? Picture all those believers meeting together. Suddenly there's the sound of a mighty rushing wind, and it fills all the house where they were sitting. "Great! This is wonderful!" they cry. "Quick! Shut the...
The New Testament is filled with evidence that God never intended to confine the outpouring of the Spirit to one historic day.
I owe everything to the gift of Pentecost. For fifty days the facts of the Gospel were complete, but no conversions were recorded. Pentecost registered three thousand souls. It is by fire that a holy passion is kindled in the soul whereby we live the life of God. The...