Pentecost Sunday

They were all in one place together. The Spirit's arrival has a condition: the gathered community. The fire rests on each one individually, but the gathering makes the reception possible. The scattered community does not receive the Pentecost that the gathered one does.

To each manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Paul names the pneumatological truth that Pentecost illustrates: the gift is given to the person; the purpose is the body. You receive a gift that someone else in the body needs. They receive a gift that you need. The one body, many parts - all given to drink of one Spirit - is the structure the Spirit builds, not the one we build for the Spirit.

In your twenties, you are discovering what gift you carry. Pentecost is the feast of the discovery - the fire resting on you specifically, the manifestation that is yours, the language of the mighty acts of God that you are equipped to speak. As the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sends you. The ordinary time is the time of the sending.

What gift do you carry for the common good? Not what you are good at in general - what the Spirit has given you that the people around you need. Name it. Then use it deliberately this week in one specific context. The Pentecost gift is not for hoarding.

Lord, fill me with your Spirit. Let the fire rest on me and name the gift I carry for the body. As the Father sent you, send me - into the particular world where what I carry is needed. Come, Holy Spirit. Alleluia. Amen.