05/24/2026
Here is the poem-prayer for Pentecost that Pastor Beth mentioned in church today.
Pentecost is not a gentle feast.
It is the wild arrival of the Holy Spirit — wind, fire, and the undoing of every barrier we have learned to build.
On Pentecost, God undoes Babel.
Where human pride once scattered the nations, the Spirit now gathers them.
Every language is spoken, every people is seen, every nation is drawn into one Body.
This is the birth of the Church.
The divisions we cling to — of nation, race, status, and power — are no match for the Spirit who descends.
And yet, in every generation, there are always those who will choose self-preservation over mercy, walls over welcome, control over communion.
Pentecost stands as a rebuke to every system that would draw hard lines around who belongs.
The Spirit did not descend upon the powerful, but upon a frightened, waiting remnant — and from there, the fire spread.
The Gospel does not promise us ease or comfort.
It calls us to take up our cross — to lose our lives in order to find them.
It commands us to love beyond borders, to welcome the stranger, to defend the vulnerable, to lay down privilege for the sake of the Body.
The Holy Spirit will not be managed.
He comes like wind that cannot be contained.
Like fire that purifies and refines.
Like breath that gives life where death once reigned.
And so the invitation remains: step out of the false security of the world’s divisions. Refuse the comfort of indifference. Risk the cost of solidarity. Speak when silence is easier. Stand where Christ stands, even when it costs you standing in the eyes of others. Choose the light, even when the darkness feels safer.
This is the work of the Spirit — not just to comfort, but to commission.
The Spirit is still speaking.
Still breaking through fear.
Still calling us into deeper courage, deeper hospitality, deeper solidarity with those the world pushes to the margins.
On Pentecost, the Church was born into boldness.
Not silence.
Not passivity.
Not compromise.
Come, Holy Spirit.
Break what needs breaking.
Heal what needs healing.
And give us hearts brave enough to follow where You lead.
