Communion Meditation: Pentecost—The Church’s Birthday (with Fire, Wind, and Zero Patience with Elitism)

Today we remember the birth of the Church —
not the day God launched a non-profit with a mission statement,
but the day the Holy Spirit said:
“Ready or not, here I come.”

Not control, but communion.
Not walls, but wind.
Not one language, one people, one way — but all flesh.

It all began in an upper room.
The disciples were doing what most of us do when we’re overwhelmed:
waiting, unsure, maybe fasting or stress-snacking —
clinging to Jesus’ last words:
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.”

And then —
Boom. Wind. Fire. Tongues.
No more quiet time.
They spilled into the streets like holy chaos,
and everyone — everyone — heard the good news in their own language.
God did not ask people to become something else to be included.
God spoke their language, their culture, their lives.

This is the Spirit of Pentecost.

Peter stood up and said, “This isn’t drunkenness, people — it’s prophecy.”
And then he quoted Joel:

“In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young will see visions.
Your elders will dream dreams.
Even on my servants — yes, the ones you overlook — I will pour out my Spirit.”

This wasn’t a spiritual hierarchy.
It was a divine upheaval.
A Spirit-led revolution of inclusion.
And it was just getting started.

So who was there?

Let’s talk about the diversity of that day.
Spoiler: It wasn’t just a room full of people who voted the same, looked the same, or liked the same worship style.

• Cultural & Ethnic:
  Acts 2 name-drops folks from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe — Parthians, Egyptians, Judeans, Romans, Arabs.
  “Every nation under heaven.” Translation: Way more diverse than most church potlucks.
• Linguistic:
  The gospel wasn’t translated into a single language. It was translated outward — into dozens.
  The Spirit didn’t demand assimilation. It honored particularity.
• Generational & Gendered:
  Sons, daughters, elders, dreamers.
  Old women with fire in their eyes, teenagers with visions.
  The Church’s birthday party was intergenerational on purpose.
• Economic & Social:
  “Even on my servants…”
  The poor, the enslaved, the overlooked — all were filled.
• Spiritual:
  Some born into the tradition. Some wandering toward it.
  Some probably still had doubts in their back pockets.
  The Spirit poured itself out anyway.

Pentecost was not about sameness.
It was about Spirit-born unity in radical, beautiful, sacred diversity.

So… what about us?

Let’s not pretend Pentecost is a lovely memory.
It’s a provocation.

• How are we waiting?
  Patiently? Fearfully? Or numbed by our comfort and consumerism?
• How are we seeking?
  Honestly? Desperately? Or only when we hit a wall?
• How are we speaking — and to whom?
  Are we listening across difference?
  Or still stuck in our spiritual silos, convinced we’re the only ones God really likes?
• How are we showing up in the marketplace — the world — with any kind of love that actually costs us something?

Pentecost is that remembering.
It’s the Spirit saying: You don’t have to leave parts of yourself behind to belong.
Bring it all. The world needs your full, Spirit-lit self.

Pentecost reveals how we’ve cut off, dismissed, or undernourished parts of ourselves and others —
so we can remember, reclaim, and live into our whole and holy selves as the Body of Christ.”

This Spirit doesn’t just give us something to say —
It transforms us into people worth listening to.

And as J. Philip Newell reminds us:

“The Spirit who hovered over the waters in the beginning
now hovers over us — and within us —
calling us to live, to create, to love.”

This table is a Pentecost table.

Here, Christ’s body is broken to include — not exclude.
Here, the cup is not just a ritual — it’s a revolution.
Here, the Spirit meets you in your waiting and sends you into your becoming.

So come.
Come, sons and daughters.
Come, visionaries and skeptics.
Come, those who are weary of church and those who’ve never left.
Come, those with power and those pushed to the margins.

Come —
to be filled.
to be claimed.
to be set loose.

Because the Spirit has been poured out on all flesh.
Yes. Even yours.

Next Enneagram Certification: 

January 13-16, 2026 [Click here for more info.]

2- year Spiritual Direction Cohort [Click here for more info.]