We The North!

This weekend had a lot of things to celebrate. Yesterday was Pentecost Sunday, where the Church celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is essentially the birthday of the Church, as it was the catalyst for its mission to begin.

What does this couple thousand-year-old religious event have to do with us today?

Pentecost brought together a really diverse group of people (who didn’t usually hang out, or understand each other) and became a time of reconciliation between those different tribes, nations and languages. Something our world could use today as well.

According to Acts 2, people from “every nation under heaven” gathered together at the original Pentecost. Even though they all spoke different languages, as the Spirit came they were able to understand each other in their “own languages.” There is also so much beauty in knowing that their diversity was part of the celebration! This is a powerful moment in the Bible as an anti-thesis to the Old Testament story of Babel which, long story short, resulted in the scattering of people around the world with diverse languages because of their pride (read more in Genesis 11).

Their faith and hope in what was to come brought them together and united them.

These past few weeks, we see a mirror of this as the city and nation cheer on the Raptors. The news is full of stories of the beautiful diversity of Raptors fans, bringing people together, creating community, and uniting the city, the country, and people around the world!

They have all come together, in their diversity, but understanding the common language of basketball, with the hope the Raptors will bring it home!

As we go about today, hoping for a Raptors win, let’s keep working to bridge the gap and bring people together as we strive to be “The Hand of God, in the Heart of the City.”

Grace & Peace,
Erin