There are defining moments in all our lives, and in the life of the Christian church, Pentecost is acknowledged as its birthday.
Just step back in time and imagine you’re going to a festival, a cultural and community event that attracted people from far away. In our times, think of perhaps Kempenfest, which celebrates the arts and music and brings people to Barrie from all over Ontario.
It was in a similar setting that the Holy Spirit blew into and through a community of believers. In Acts 2, the event is described: winds, tongues of fire, and miracles.
Because people came from far and wide – Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene and even visitors from Rome – there was an incredible diversity of language.
But God’s love and God’s Spirit provide connection. And miraculously, people were able to communicate and share God’s love with others in their language.
Each one of us is a spirit on a human journey. We may have walked different paths and come from different places. Our experiences and our challenges may have been different – but in the midst of them, there is a commonality: our humanity.
At Pentecost, God poured out the Holy Spirit and gave the Comforter to His people.
That includes you and me, people like us and people very different from us. That really enhances the beauty and enhances the human experience.
This is important to remember as June is Pride Month and Indigenous People’s History Month in Canada. These communities within our broader community have incredible gifts to share with us. Next Saturday, Barrie Pride hosts a parade, at 2 p.m., downtown Barrie.
What an adventure for all of us to learn and enrich our own lives and the lives of others. 