Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Acts 2:3-4 

3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. 

Do you remember the Tower of Babel story from Genesis? People who lived before Abraham and Sarah built towering pyramid-like structures called ziggurats that exist as ruins even today. They were long abandoned by the time God first spoke to Abraham, but the legend of how they came to be is captured in the story told in Genesis 11. According to the legend the building of the tower was abandoned because God confused the language of the workers; they all began speaking in languages that others could not understand. It was a story of how the world became more broken and divided. 

The Pentecost story reverses the Babel story. True, the different languages are still being spoken, but everybody understood what was being said. Everybody was included. As many languages that were represented in the crowd that day, that many languages were coming out of the disciples’ mouths. 

I like that different languages were being spoken. The Holy Spirit doesn’t require us to all fit into one mold. There is great diversity in the kingdom of God and the Spirit sees that diversity as beautiful. We could always use the visual reminder of Pentecost as a reminder that God includes even those very different than we. 

– Pr. Paul

Holy Spirit, help me always to see others through your eyes; to look past the exterior and see the nature of the person you fashioned. Amen.