Day of Pentecost (Year A, RCL)

The thin cannot say to the fat, "I have no need of you."

The Spirit affirms our differences, speaking in ways that each of us can understand—yet also drawing us together.

Divisions mark our society—and our churches. What could possibly bring us together?

When Jesus walks into the locked room, the first thing he offers is peace.

I've experienced Pentecost as sweet, serious, or neither.

John 20:19–23

The disciples don't believe Mary—or do they?

Those who heard the disciples preach on Pentecost comprehended the message in their own language. But that was only the beginning.

In Acts comes Luke’s imaginative way to build upon ancient stories. The tongues of fire are no longer seen from afar on top of God’s mountain. And the multiplicity of languages becomes God’s vehicle for bringing salvation to the entire world.

Pentecost offers a vision for Europe: not one megastate or one system for everything, but a model of diversity as peace.

Why is the Jesus on that crucifix so small?

The cross overshadows him, dwarfs him. This is what I think about in my Aquinas class.

Learning a language requires us to focus our attention on something outside ourselves. It's a lot like learning to pray.

From Paul’s letter, we can infer that the Corinthians tended toward the same bias from which many of us suffer: the belief that there is little collective wisdom in the church.

California is in a severe drought. Normally it rains in the time from mid-October to March, but for the past few years it has been bone dry. Some say we may only have a year of water left. We are thirsty.

It is clear in Acts 2 that a party is taking place—that dreams and visions are not meant to be dreamt alone.

I learned many Bible stories by watching movies in Sunday school. They were those old-fashioned movies, shown on a reel-to-reel projector, that tried to portray the stories as some Cecil B. DeMille wannabe imagined they took place. They were seldom more than a few steps grander than the local Christmas pageant; most of the disciples basically wore fancy bathrobes.

The Pentecost movie was dramatic.

We may experience division in our cries to God, hearing only what’s loud right next to us. But God hears us as one human family, crying out for blessing.

Painter Sawai Chinnawong saturates the outpouring of the Spirit with the colors Thai art traditionally associates with the holy.

It’s been seven years, and I cannot access Jesus' word of peace. The tears still sting and slosh over my pail of remorse.