Over time, as their trust in one another deepened, their discussions grew richer. Soon, they were praying together for guidance about how else to embody God’s healing love in a city that desperately needed it.

Who knows where such projects might lead? If we believe the promise of Pentecost, then perhaps nothing less than “turning the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). As our first-century ancestors discovered, we can expect resistance if we start down that road -- from the civil authorities, maybe from the church, and certainly, from time to time, from our own fearful hearts.

But what alternative do we have if we are to be citizens of the kingdom? Try to confine the power of Pentecost to one day a year? Turn our sanctuaries into tombs, seeking to seal the Spirit inside? We know what God does when human beings try that.

God offers us resurrection and new life. Or, as we say in Montreal, Il nous offre la résurrection et une nouvelle vie.

The same gifts, through the same power, in any language.