Happy Pentecost!

At Pentecost, we remember and celebrate that though Jesus is not here as he was before, we are not left alone to do the work we have been called to do. 

We remember and celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit – the third person of the Trinity – a gift of God’s very self to us, along with the promise to be with us and help us on our journey.

We cannot see the Holy Spirit directly, not usually anyway, but there are signs, like the leaves that are moved by the wind.

One of the signs, and gifts, of the Spirit of God is diversity.

We see this in the diversity of Creation, the diversity of the human family, the diversity of the body of Christ – the Church, the diversity of the fruits/gifts of the Spirit, and more besides. We see this diversity in the story of Pentecost from the Book of Acts, when people from all over the world heard the disciples proclaiming the Good News in their own languages, the language of their hearts.

And yet, this great diversity comes from but one Spirit. There is unity within this dizzying diversity.

One of the great sins of the Church has been to embrace a different sort of unity – unity in conformity.

The Church has often quashed differences, harming those who are different in the process based on creed, ability, culture, race, sexuality, gender, tradition or denomination.

Conformity is much safer than diversity, but requires power, control and even violence to be imposed and maintained.

This is not the way of Jesus. This is not the way of the Kingdom of God.

God, particularly the Holy Spirit, is not safe and cannot be controlled…but is good, wildly good.

Like a raging fire, like a rushing wind, like a soaring bird, the Spirit of God is wild and free.

On this Pentecost, may we see, celebrate, revel and delight in the great diversity and unity that we see all around us, signs of the gift of God’s Holy Spirit.

Thanks be to God!

 

 

 

CG+