The Pentecost Example
Good Samaritan, nestled in the green North Georgia mountains, seems to be a small parish, maybe 200 families, but one with lots of heart. From my book table I watched friends greeting friends, hugs and laughter, volunteers doing their part, good times shared, memories made. Women in aprons buzzed about the kitchen, ......
Tables in the fellowship hall covered with white cloths held bouquets of international flags. Parishioners filed in carrying plates, platters, bowls and trays and placed them on the tables. From noon-four the Tapas On the Square at $5 a plate, $15 family, were carried outside on heaping plates to be enjoyed under the tents in the side yard. Balloon artists, face painters and musicians entertained. The silent auction and a few things for sale were near my table inside.
Why Pentecost weekend? All these finger foods, the Tapas, were shared from family recipes. I saw food from Mexico, Sweden, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Germany, Guatemala, Greece, Italy, Poland, Iceland, England and Wales. There may have been others, but these are the ones I remember. Flags from around the world waved in the side yard of the church under the same sunshine, flapping in the same breeze.
The other chairperson, whose name is also Deanna, discovered her daughter had purchased my Avery books at a Civil War reenactment in Bardstown, Kentucky, (see October 28, 2012 blog) and her grandchildren loved the books. The world gets smaller, doesn’t it? The farther we spread ourselves, like the apostles, the smaller the world seems to get. Miles separating us become miles that brought us together.
Pentecost is a day to remember just how small we all are, and how near, how alike in God’s image. We need to pull down the Towers of Babels that divide and antagonize. We don’t have to speak the same language to understand the heart; we don’t have to honor the same flag to respect another; we don’t have to agree on statutes and rules. God’s rule is Love, something we can all share and understand. Pentecost is our example. I made some new North Georgia friends and I was happy to hand their treasurer $20, my 10% of the day’s sales. It wasn’t a lot, just my part of the day. That’s what we’re all called to do, our part, each day, the Pentecost way. Lesson learned.