Unity in the Spirit

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? ...in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

‘In the last days it will be, God declares,

that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,

    and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

and your young men shall see visions,

    and your old men shall dream dreams.

Even upon my slaves, both men and women,

    in those days I will pour out my Spirit;

        and they shall prophesy 

(New Revised Standard Version. Acts 2:1-8, 11B-18.)

"When there is unity God is present." These were the words preached on this past Pentecost Sunday at Grace Evangelical Lutheran church in the beautiful city of New Orleans. I have found that his sermon has really spoken true to the YouthWorks mission. 

Later that day three different groups of multiple denominations arrived at our church ready to serve together this week. From the first hour on site these groups did an excellent job at intermingling with one another and not differentiating between whose denomination was better. They were all getting to know each other and learning about who would be serving alongside them. It was unity that brought them together.

That night three of our team mates performed our first Youth Orientation of the summer and it was a success but, ended way too early. We had an hour to spare before our next activity so immediately we led them in multiple group activities. After about an hour we were able to start Club, our evening service. There were only minor mistakes and all were one's that were able to be fixed. It was unity of my team that allowed all to go well. 

This morning I rode off with an Evangelical Free and United Methodist church ready to serve at Arc Nola--a nonprofit that sorts and sells recycled Mardi Gras beads and provides jobs for the mentally disabled. It was a beautiful sight seeing the daughters and sons of God working together alongside the employees despite what their backgrounds and doctrines may have been. I was blessed to work alongside Eric and Peter, two of the employees with disabilities. I learned all about their lives and was even taught how to dance to the song Wobble. Everyone had their own part to play in the sorting and everyone used their abilities in various ways. It was unity that allowed this mundane job to be one that flourished. 

God's Spirit empowers us to work together in unity. Scripture says when two or more are gathered then God will be present. When we are willing to allow our diverse gifts to be used then the Spirit moves and we became aware of the Spirit's presence. I am learning we need to allow room for our daughters to prophecy. We need to allow room for our sons to prophecy. We need to build each other up as equal partners to be unified in our diversity. Our God is a God of Unity in Diversity and I am thankful of that.

These are simply my thoughts from the dust during this day after Pentecost Sunday in our first programmatic week of YouthWorks. I hope to periodically update how my summer is going and what the Lord is teaching me in that. May the words of my mouth and meditations of my life be pleasing to our Lord. 

My prayer is that God will continue to breathe His pneuma, ruach, spirit into us and empower us into unity.