May 21, 2026

This Sunday we celebrate Pentecost! Traditionally churches rouse anyone who knows a language other than English to help read the scripture. This is in response to our readings from Acts: “4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. 5Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.” (Acts 2:4-6).​

As the Worship and Music Team talked about Pentecost this year, we decided not to invite people to read scripture in another language. Instead, we are inviting people during the worship service to pray the Lords’ Prayer in their native tongue or the language/version of their heart. Allowing for this diversity in speech has the potential to feel jarring or chaotic. I invite you to let any tension flow through you as an imagination for what it must have sounded like in Jerusalem at Pentecost.

The crowd gathered in Jerusalem were quick to reject something holy was happening. They blamed alcohol as the cause of the commotion. They were unable or unwilling to notice the presence of the Holy Spirit moving amongst them. As humanity, we are suspicious of things or people who do not make sense to us. We allow this discomfort to create fear and look for someone or something to be the cause of our discomfort.

In this discomfort, we can be swift to close our hearts for how the Spirit might be moving in our midst. We tend to lean toward what is familiar, what is known. Trying new things or tolerating change can be uncomfortable. Yet, it is in expanding our hearts and minds that we seek engagement with those we do not know. Volunteering at the Respond to Racism booth last Sunday, I had pinned an individual as disinterested. When I asked if he would like to spin the wheel, he declined. The wheel is a tool to encourage and foster conversation. Even though he was unwilling to spin the wheel, we went on to have a 45-minute conversation about his own engagement with folks from Asian and African descent.

It could have been easy to disregard this man as he read our sign and prepared to walk on. However, because I was open to conversation, I was able to learn many things about his man and the coastal town in Oregon where he grew up. I had tuned my ears to listen to a story that was not my own.

At Pentecost, we notice how the Holy Spirit descended upon a whole community that celebrated diversity and inclusion. We are reminded how the Resurrected Jesus came and stood amongst his frightened friends and breathed on them the Holy Spirit, equipping them for ongoing ministry. We will also hear from the community in Corinth how this same Spirit gifted people for the common good. Holy Spirit was the Divine Name read at Monday’s Lectio Divina, and it sums this up quite well:

“Unlike the apprehensive disciples locked in the upper room with their fears, I do have expectations of your coming. Yet you continue to surprise me too. I anticipate your entrance as a wild guest, and then you slip quietly into my life. I wait for you to speak instantly. Instead, you slowly share your guidance. I look for you in the highly unusual, and of course you show up in the ordinary.” (Fragments of Your Ancient Name by Joyce Rupp May 18).