Pentecost is the birth-day story of the Christian Church, explosively emerging 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus. The disciples are gathered together, and suddenly they are overwhelmed and transformed by the presence of God. Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures in the Bible it is only the Kings, Priests and Prophets who are the chosen ones that the Spirit of God comes upon to gift them with wisdom, prophetic word, and power. Now at Pentecost the Spirit of God comes upon all men and women that are gathered in this celebration, pushing them to proclamation of Jesus as the hope that the gathered diverse crowds in Jerusalem are seeking. Their
sudden preaching power is one that reflects the diversity of those present, representing the multi-cultural diversity and richness of all the world. In a sense it's the reversal of the story of the Tower of Babel in which people are scattered because of their desire to replace God. Here at Pentecost the scattered people, separated by their lingual diveristy are gathred by the sharing of a common message in all the languages of humankind, that they might be unified in their hope, spiritual experience, and call to Christ-like cooperation and connectionalism.
This is one of my favorite passages in the entire Bible - the radical affirmation of cultural and enthnic diversity as God-given, God-desired, and God-shaped is a massive message of hope and pertinence in our increasinly shrinking world in which multi-culturality in not the product of the international forces of globalisation, nor the PC propaganda of some faceless study group or think tank, 
but rather the will, desire, and delight of God. What a message of connections, community, and Christ-like participation. All those present are gifted...not just the ordained males of the clergy, not just the upper classed folks, nor the monied members, nor a specific ethnic class, or group with MBAs....but all those gathered in the Name of Jesus the Christ are gifted, transformed, and invited to participation and full and equal participants in the ministry of the emerging church.....how did we get so far from that in our current state as the diverse church in the world.... where church planting schemes targeted specific ethnic groups, or social classes, suggesting that churches in which everyone is similar will grow faster and more effectively than ones with a wide spectrum of economic, educational, or cultural diversity. That's not what I want.....I want to be in a faith community that's truly community reflecting the rich diversity of the East Bay Area in which I live....where I encounter every time I gather in that community the different ways in which we celebrate, experience, and anticipate God's actions, desires, and invitations in our lives, city, and world.
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