Pentecost offers a vision for Europe: not one megastate or one system for everything, but a model of diversity as peace.
Easter | Day of Pentecost (Year C)
Acts 2:1-21; Romans 8:14-17 or Genesis 11:1-9 (Psalm 104:24-34, 35b); John 14:8-17, (25-27)
Learning a language requires us to focus our attention on something outside ourselves. It's a lot like learning to pray.
Could the Spirit's love be poured into the hearts of people untouched by the incarnation? Could non-Christians be lovers of the only God there is?
California is in a severe drought. Normally it rains in the time from mid-October to March, but for the past few years it has been bone dry. Some say we may only have a year of water left. We are thirsty.
It is clear in Acts 2 that a party is taking place—that dreams and visions are not meant to be dreamt alone.
I learned many Bible stories by watching movies in Sunday school. They were those old-fashioned movies, shown on a reel-to-reel projector, that tried to portray the stories as some Cecil B. DeMille wannabe imagined they took place. They were seldom more than a few steps grander than the local Christmas pageant; most of the disciples basically wore fancy bathrobes. The Pentecost movie was dramatic.