This coming weekend is Pentecost Sunday.  The first reading is from St. Luke’s Acts of the Apostles. The story Luke describes is full of details that challenge the imagination.  Tongues of fire.  Rushing wind.  Bold preaching.  Mass baptism.  But at its heart, the Pentecost story is not about spectacle and drama.  It’s about the Holy Spirit showing up and transforming ordinary,  imperfect, frightened people into the Body of Christ.  It’s about the Spirit carrying us out of suspicion, tribalism, and fear, into a radical new way of engaging God and our neighbor. Continue reading →