We have people meeting in one place, it’s Pentecost, 50 days after Passover. It’s a house (Acts 2:2) – too early for a church perhaps. Would they have said synagogue if that was the place?
We draw the lines in the sand to separate people into classifications,
we are the ones who try to segregate people, where God is saying that all are loved.
So at Pentecost : who is in? Oh, who is everyone? Do we have the 11 disciples, or are the women present, and has Matthias, the late substitute, joined them? There is a large crowd gathered for the festival: not locals though – these are immigrants. And God’s spirit is within them as well – is there no boundary for God?
The crowd move closer to the house when that sound is heard, that violent wind – it wasn’t the fire. It’s odd that no one can speak to one another as they all use different languages, but they can all understand each other. Let that sink in for a moment.
What are they talking about? Who has won the championship? Who owns a motorhome? No, it’s about what God has done. It’s not about their achievements at all. In Genesis we have the Tower of Babel where there is one language so that the people can make a name for themselves; her, there is one language about what God has done.
So at Pentecost : who is in? It’s about community, being as one, regardless of our differences, our culture, our language: loved by God. It’s about inclusivity: of all gender, young and old, poor and the rich.
We draw the lines in the sand to separate people into classifications,
we are the ones who try to segregate people, where God is saying that all are loved.
What can this mean?
Who is in?
We can see this with the refugees, the asylum seekers, the migrants. Commentators identify them in disparaging terms, criticising them for carrying mobile phones but lacking identification papers. We hear arguments that charity starts at home, when surely God’s Spirit would have gone merely to the disciples, and perhaps the women…
We can see this as a struggling church, unable to really see where the future lies. This ‘church’ is given new life, not through a huge financial grant, a new minister, nor a reduction in their assessment, but a vision of being as one, with all they rub shoulders with. It’s where people matter more than material substance. Where love is not just heard about, it warms the heart, but flows so deep that people really understand what it means to be with God.
Does that resonate with any of us?
I found the dialogue interesting and I enjoyed it