PENTECOST:Acts 2:1-11; Gal 5:16-25; John 15:26-27; 16:12-15

A church going family took a little girl who was visiting with them to church one Sunday. This girl had never been to church in her life but seemed to enjoy the experience. When they returned home and were eating lunch, they asked the girl what she thought about the experience. She said she liked it, but she was confused about one thing. She asked why the Whole West Coast wasn't included. Nobody in the family knew what she was talking about. So, she explained, "The man in the front kept talking about + the Father, Son and Whole-East-Coast."

God didn't leave out the West Coast, God included everyone in the celebration of this day. Pentecost Sunday is the third most important Sunday of the Christian year. Pentecost highlights the universality and unification of the Church. The Holy Spirit came and rested on the Apostles like tongues of fire. Then they began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." There were no interpreters present. In spite of the fact that there were persons present from 16 different geographical regions, each of them heard the disciples in their own language.  

The miracle of tongues on Pentecost thus reverses the confusion of tongues wrought by God at the Tower of Babel, as described in Genesis 11. Later, the Acts of the Apostles describes how the Holy Spirit empowered the early Christians to bear witness to Christ by their sharing love and strong faith.  

Pentecost was an amazing miracle of communication. Often times problems between groups of people get aggravated by breakdown in communication. 

A man was in consultation with his physician, and complained of an unsatisfactory physical relationship with his wife. The doctor, an avid jogger, said, "What you need is some vigorous exercise. I want you to run 10 miles a day for 30 days, and then give me a call." True to the plan, the patient called his doctor at the end of the month. "How are you doing?" asked the doctor. "Has your relationship with your wife improved?" "How should I know?" exclaimed the patient, "I'm 300 miles from home!"

A common language and communication is vital for success in any endeavor. The purpose of the church is to communicate. We are God's Word in the world today. We are called to communicate the Good News of God's love revealed in Christ.  The good news is not restricted to a particular nation or a particular race or a particular class. The Gospel cuts across every dividing line in society. This power comes on a day when they were in one accord.  In other words, there was unity and agreement. There was a commonality among them. Nothing takes the place of community. If we expect great things to happen, then we must be of one accord.

Difference in language makes it difficult for people to communicate with one another.  But the early Christians were able to grasp the meaning of each other's message, because they spoke the language of love, the language of   understanding, the language of selflessness, and the language of kindness. The feast of Pentecost demands from us that we should get united with God.

Sometimes people love their ideas more than they love Jesus. Later a major split would occur in the early church over who should get in; whether the Gentiles should be taken in. It has been said that Peter and Paul came out fighting and its been going on in the church ever since. But, in the early days, there was one accord. It was to that setting that the Holy Spirit came. And they were able to listen to the Holy Spirit and solve the problem.

The German philosopher Schopenhauer once said that people are rather like a pack of porcupines on a freezing winter night. The sub-zero temperature forces them together for warmth. But as soon as they press very close, they jab and hurt one another. So they separate, only to attempt, in vain, over and over again, to huddle together. Togetherness can be painful. But without it we will freeze. Certainly the early church had as many difficult people as do our congregations today.

Years ago, The Rock Magazine reported that there were at that time 34,000 Protestant denominations which means that, on the average, more than sixty-nine new denominations had sprung up every year since the Reformation began in 1517.  We believe that Holy Spirit works in each of them, to inspiring them to remain united as one. But like the people who tried to build the tower of Babel to show off their pride, leaders who want power and prestige stay away from communion and goes around babbling in all directions defeating the purpose of Pentecost.

The first gift of the Spirit, was a gift of speech -speech in different languages. The first act of the gift of speech was proclamation. We are never so likely to be filled with the Spirit as when we are witnessing to our faith in Christ.

There is a story about an English gentleman named Alfie. Alfie could do nothing right. He bungled everything he ever touched. One day in a moment of deep despair and desperation, he tried to take his own life. He failed at that, too. While he was in the hospital, a friend came to visit. The friend asked, "Alfie, why did you do it?" And Alfie responded, "Because there is no good news anywhere. There just can't be any good news anywhere. Because, if there was, surely someone would have come running to me to share it with me."

The world is filled with Alfies-just waiting for someone to bring good news into their lives. And, we are those charged with that responsibility. A disciple of Christ is necessarily a missionary. Today is a great day to ask the Holy Spirit to rekindle in us the spirit of new life and enthusiasm, the fire of God's love to spread the good news.  Let us repeat Cardinal Newman’s favorite little prayer, “Come Holy Spirit:”

“Come Holy Spirit
Make our ears to hear
Make our eyes to see
Make our mouths to speak
Make our hearts to seek
Make our hands to reach out
And touch the world with your love.  AMEN.”