God's Great Collage

Imagine if you were invited to a party, and when you arrived, everyone was speaking in different languages. You couldn’t understand a single person and they couldn’t understand you. How would you feel? How would you react? Well, this is exactly how the first Christians felt on the first Pentecost, when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, just like he promised. Everyone began speaking in different languages. Only the difference was, they understood each other! The Church began that day, and thus we like to affectionately call Pentecost the “Birthday of the Church.”

So, why am I talking about Pentecost? After all, Pentecost falls in May or June each year – depending on when Easter is. Well, this week we celebrate World Communion Sunday. This Sunday is the day that each Christian church around the world will be gathering around the Lord’s table and partaking in Communion. And what better image to think of this than the image of Pentecost?! Many different people, many different languages, many different traditions…ONE body which we gather together as. It’s almost like we are a great collage. We all our different pieces separately, but as we are put together into a piece of artwork by God, we form one picture – a picture of a Church united. So, as we come together for World Communion, may we all remember that image of God’s great collage and embrace both our diversity and our unity as the Church. We truly are ONE body!