When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs, in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” (Acts 2:1-13, NRSV)
A happy and spirit-filled Pentecost to everyone!
Today is the day when we mark the coming of the Holy Spirit. Today is the day commonly thought of as the birthday of the church. This is the day when we declare that we are one people joined together. Even though there are times it might not look like it, we are one church.
One of the things we love at Back Bay Mission is that we’re a place where so many people can be the church together. People from all over the country gather here. People from many denominations – and no denomination – gather here. People of many political and theological persuasions gather here.
And the beautiful thing is that all of these people gather here to follow the path set before us by Jesus: to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a time of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18-19)
Thank you to everyone who helps us be the church in service to our brothers and sisters on the Mississippi Gulf Coast!
Note: The header image is a composite of two images, Pentecost 44 ~ The Holy Spirit via photopin (license) and _DSC7254 via photopin (license)
