“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8
Today’s Reflection is mainly the writing of the Rev Dr Helen Richmond following the meeting of the Board of the NCCA, of which she is a member. Helen writes….
‘As Christians around the world celebrate Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit, we hear again the call to envisage a world that deeply honours every member of the human family and God’s creation. The coming of the Holy Spirit proclaims a vision of unity that does not erase our differences or force uniformity. Instead, cultural and linguistic diversity is affirmed, and we discover a family resemblance not based on colour, language, ethnicity or race.
In sharing this Pentecost dream of a renewed world, our hearts at this time are heavy as we see name the tremendous suffering of our world that is caused when we fail to see the image of God in one another.’
In light of this Pentecost hope we say, ‘enough is enough’. War and killing has to stop. Innocent people are being slaughtered in Gaza, Israel, Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine, Russia, Lebanon and in other places as well. Not every conflict captures the media’s attention.
In every conflict the value of each human life comes second to the ‘reason’ for the fighting. In the name of the Prince of Peace, whose Spirit we celebrate at Pentecost, we seek peace. We want peace and an end to warfare.
‘This Pentecost the NCCA invites all of us to renew our commitment to challenge racism in our communities and to speak out against xenophobia, antisemitism, prejudice, Islamophobia and discrimination that feeds on the fear of difference.
The Pentecost vision is of a world renewed where all of God’s children are valued, protected, safe and given the opportunity to flourish’.
Rev Dr Helen Richmond and Rev John Gilmore