Pastor’s Corner – June 8, 2025
The Message of Pentecost – John 14:8-14
“Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these…”
Here we are once again, on Pentecost Sunday wearing our red to celebrate the birth of the church! We are all quite familiar with the story of how the disciples gathered and the Spirit of God came to them like a rush of violent wind and fire filled the place, they spoke in tongues of different languages that were heard by the diaspora community. They asked, “Are they not Galileans? How is it that we are hearing each in our own language?”
What is the miracle of Pentecost if not listening and hearing? The Galileans, far removed from the center and marginalized, came to Jerusalem of all the places and were given center stage. Their voices were finally heard by the international community. What exactly did they hear? We know that Peter got up and addressed the crowd reminding them that they are not drunk! Peter recites from the prophet Joel, how God will pour out God’s Spirit upon all flesh and sons and daughters shall prophesy, and young men see visions and old men dream dreams!
The question I have to ask is as we celebrate the birth of the church, what’s in our DNA, if not to prophesy? What does it mean to dream dreams and see visions, if not the justice and peace ancient prophets and Jesus proclaimed? We’ve heard the message of Jesus, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…” You can fill in the rest.
The gospel John reminds us that as disciples we are called to follow Jesus and do the work he passed on to us. Our church DNA is rooted in Christ’s ministry of compassion and love that are inseparable from the work of peacemaking. This is deeply grounded in our understanding that we are all created in the image of God or in secular language, founded in universal declaration of human rights. Universal Declaration of Human Rights – Wikipedia
This past week at Harvard graduation, a Chinese student named Yurong Jiang gave a speech to her graduating class of 2025, titled: “Our Humanity.” It was very moving address which I think captures the spirit of Pentecost and I want to share it with you: https://youtu.be/GpR_xk-DWsQ?si=pUCakc_3w_lCy4WU
Pastor Dae