Word from Wiese

World Wide Pentecost Friends

World-Wide Pentecost Friends

8 June 2022

Shin-dig. Gala. Party. Festival. Big to-do.

What colorful term would you choose to describe our wonderful Pentecost Sunday at COS this past weekend? We chose to call it “Homecoming: A Service of Return.” Indeed, how awesome it was to have so many faith friends who had been disconnected because of Covid craziness come to worship and fellowship together! Just like the first Pentecost when God gathered everybody from different nations together in Jerusalem and then released the power of the Holy Spirit upon them, we celebrated how we are better together, gathered with our Triune God and each other. Home. Faith. Community. Values. Purpose. Hope. Strength. Future.

Outstanding music, decorations, hospitality, singing children, worship, and refreshments. Thanks to all who made it an outstanding day.

While it was a chance for Georgia friends to reconnect, it was also a chance for some Lutheran pastors to reconnect. Gathered from 19 countries for two weeks in Wittenberg, Germany, in a special Lutheran World Federation study program in 2019, we were then sent by the Spirit back to our local congregations. But with Covid forcing us to figure out recording messages on our phones, Pentecost was an occasion to “re-assemble” our voices as we declared the Apostles Creed together, each in our own language in honor of that very first Pentecost in Jerusalem.

Many of you asked to see it again. So here is the clip, just about 90 seconds long:

Seeing Lutherans with a variety of skin tones speaking in a variety of languages is a powerful reminder that we are a small, but very important part, of a mighty, world-wide faith. God is on the move!   Please remember that YOU have your own way of sharing the Good News.  Your personality, your choice of analogies, your special ability of connecting with your friends—what if all of that is the Holy Spirit’s gift and empowerment to YOU to be a Pentecost Person?  You can be someone who shares Jesus’ hope in the words that your friends can understand?   Have you claimed such a Pentecost Pulse as a key part of YOUR baptismal identity and calling?   It’s a pretty cool concept to reflect on, pray about, and activate!
Dear God, thanks for reminding me on Pentecost that I’m not alone.  You bless me with friends I can sing, ask, grieve, smile and grow with at Christ Our Shepherd.  Help me also remember that my church family extends around the world.  Remind me to put my life here in your Pentecost perspective that extends everywhere.  In Jesus’s name, Amen.