Pentecost is testimony of the multicultural character of the Church of God.

On the first Pentecost Sunday the Holy Spirit empowered the first disciples to speak of the wonders of the Gospel, and particularly of the resurrected Messiah, in many languages. These languages they did not learn in the way we do. It was a miracle that they could (Act 2: 5 – 13) and this wonder was given to the Church that there never will be any doubt in anyone’s mind that the Church, an instrument in God’s hand, in its purest form is multicultural. This implies that it is linguistically, culturally and racially inclusive.

As we celebrate Pentecost Sunday on 24 May 2015, we have to make a difference in God’s work, by amongst other things, being a community that draws all people that share the grace experience of the salvation of God in Jesus Christ. This shared experience of redemption constitutes a community where no other qualification than being saved by grace ,through faith in the risen Lord, can ever be so important that it divides God’s people.

Love that comes about as a gift of the Spirit amongst those who share the grace experience, is described in 1 Cor 13: 4 – 8: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

All people, from various cultures are drawn together by God’s love in Christ. Paul writes in Galatians 3:28: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

There are, by the mercy of God, exceptions, but the Church has in general not done particularly well in living out its multicultural mission in the world. Looking at the general church experience around us we do see that to be divided according to language, race, and ethnicity seem to have become an unquestioned norm to many. But we need to prayerfully protect our multicultural testimony of the unity of the Church of Christ, as demonstrated at Pentecost. It remains God’s standard, even in racialist societies that often breed unkind, loveless exclusivity!  It is the church that Jesus prayed for! (John 17).

Pentecost matters as it challenges all of us to continuously examine our own attitudes, to reject and repent of any prejudice that prowls within us, and to continue to open our hearts to all people, even when they do not share our language and culture.

Pentecost demonstrates that multiculturalism in the Church is something that the Spirit of God will help us to make work, if we are available to him.