Sermon by Father Alistair So-Schoos
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
What a joy it is to preach to you again on this Day of Pentecost! Happy Whitsunday as we commemorate the birthday of God’s one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. I greet you in Christ’s name and bring good tidings on this feast—the celebration of the Holy Spirit’s coming upon the disciples and the Blessed Virgin Mary— the Theotokos—igniting them to continue Christ’s work and empowering the Church for mission.
The most iconic account of Pentecost in Acts chapter two tells of the Holy Spirit descending like tongues of fire. Fire imagery is woven through both Old and New Testaments and remains significant in our liturgical life—think of the Easter Vigil fire, which guides us to the empty tomb and the triumph of Christ’s resurrection. This image of fire is not just for pageantry; it expresses the passionate, powerful, transformative presence of God in our lives.
To describe the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire conveys the fervor and passion believers can feel when celebrating their faith. That was the zeal of the early Christians at Pentecost, and that is the same passion we need now to reenergize and revitalize the Church today. The question is: how do we kindle this same spirit in our busy, complex, modern world?
There’s much to learn from the early Church’s beginnings, as recorded by St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles. Pentecost was the Big Bang of faith, launching a movement that has grown into two billion believers worldwide. These stories reveal the secret to a vibrant, growing Church.
First, it’s important to note how both diversity and unity were at the very heart of that first Pentecost. As we read in Acts: “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?... Parthians, Medes, Elamites…residents of Mesopotamia…Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”
These names underscore the geographic diversity of that crowd—but there’s more.
There was also a divide of class and expectation. When the people note that the speakers are “Galileans,” we’re meant to be astonished. Galileans were considered uneducated country folk, hardly expected to speak their own language well, let alone the languages of others. Yet here they are, cosmopolitan and articulate, bridging cultures and classes. The Holy Spirit had dissolved those boundaries—geographical, social, and cultural.
Pentecost is, in a sense, the New Testament reversal of the confusion at the Tower of Babel. Where once God had scattered people through divided languages, now the Holy Spirit gathers all people, uniting them in shared understanding and mutual recognition. God provides, through the Spirit, an authentic path to salvation for all.
From this diverse gathering comes Peter’s powerful sermon, which, as Acts recounts, resulted in three thousand people being baptized that day. Radical welcome lay at the heart of his message. True flourishing comes when differences are not just tolerated but embraced—when each person’s unique gifts are welcomed as a blessing.
If diversity was the secret ingredient to the early Church’s thriving, then it is also the key for us today. The diversity Scripture describes goes deeper than demographics or language. It’s rooted in what Jesus says about the Holy Spirit:
“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”
Not just a trickle, but rivers—plural—of living water. Our ministry is meant to be life-giving, inclusive, and expansive. Our spiritual gifts are to be shared, helping each other grow into the full stature of Christ. Like the early church, we are called into a relationship of mutual understanding and support, always extending a welcome to those outside, celebrating and affirming diversity.
This call to be "rivers of living water" means having open hearts, ready for the surprising ways God may use us. It means looking for where the Spirit moves—even, and perhaps especially, in unexpected places.
Take, for example, the ways people are connecting and reaching across boundaries today. When the COVID-19 pandemic kept us apart physically, many churches quickly adopted livestreaming and online worship. When I do supply clergy work, attendees from afar have reached out and expressed their appreciation for having a spiritual community they can join, even if they are hundreds or thousands of miles away. Whether it’s a homebound person, someone traveling for work, or a family tuning in from another country, the Spirit has created new expressions of unity, worship, and belonging beyond any one parish church.
Consider also the work of community food pantries, refugee ministries, social outreach—places where people of varied backgrounds come together to serve others. And this also applies to assisting at liturgies as altar servers and choristers. Volunteers may not share the same language or culture, but they share a desire to help, and in working together, the boundaries between “us” and “them” begin to fall away. This is Pentecost in action—real people sharing God’s love in practical, transformative ways.
So I encourage you this week to notice the diversity in your own daily life—at school, at work, in the neighborhoods you drive through, or even online. Where do you see God at work through people who are different from you? How might the Spirit be calling you to broaden your own welcome or step out of your comfort zone?
If you still feel the Holy Spirit is mysterious, you’re not alone. The disciples themselves were in a vulnerable place at Pentecost: grieving Jesus’ death, stunned by his resurrection, and left again at the Ascension—with only the promise that they would not be left comfortless. Jesus sent them the Advocate, the Holy Spirit.
Without Jesus physically beside them, the disciples accomplished even more than before—spreading the Gospel from Jerusalem throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. Empowered by the Spirit, they began the ongoing work of Christ through His Church—a work of radical inclusion, reconciliation, and sacrificial love that continues to this day. We are inheritors of that same apostolic mission here in the 21st century.
The Holy Spirit is like fire—fueling our passion. The Spirit is also like water—nourishing, overflowing, and life-giving. The Spirit is God’s breath—the Ruach that gave Adam life. All these images speak to the Spirit’s power to touch each of us in different ways and at different times.
Today, the Holy Spirit still leads us into spaces of renewed faith and deeper connection. Are we willing to let our hearts be set ablaze, to speak words of hope across boundaries, to refresh others with kindness and understanding? Are we willing to forgive where there’s hurt, to reach out across lines of difference, to build up instead of divide?
Like those first Christians who received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, we too are recipients of the same promised Advocate, Paraclete, and Comforter. If we bring the same zeal and openness as those first Christians to our ministries today, our parish and the Church as a whole will be transformed in ways we have yet to imagine.
As you go forth this week, I invite you to ask yourself: Where is the Spirit prompting me to break down walls or build new bridges? How can I be living water to someone in need? What gifts has God given me that I am called to share? May the Holy Spirit, who helps us proclaim Jesus as Lord, continue to guide and empower all of us in the life of Christ lived out in His Church. May the Spirit fill us with holy zeal, nourish us with living water, and breathe new life into us all.
Amen. Alleluia!
The Day of Pentecost
May 24, 2026