On the verge of any big step in life it is natural that we might have some doubt, some fear, some apprehension. But just as God called and gifted the prophets of old, God has called and gifted you. Your voice and choices matter. So how will you use your influence? How will you change the world around you?

On Pentecost, Christians celebrate the fulfilment of the promise of Jesus that the Holy Spirit would be poured out on all believers. Crossing all boundaries that would separate us, the Spirit brings the wideness of God’s mercy to places we least expect it - to a crowd of strangers of different lands and tongues, to dry bones, to our weak hearts. Jesus promises his disciples that they will be accompanied by the Holy Spirit, and that this Spirit reveals the truth. We celebrate that we too have been visited by this same Spirit. Guided by the truth, we join together in worship, and then disperse to share the fullness of Christ’s love with the world.

Christ’s gift was unity, not uniformity. It’s time we stopped trying to make people just like we are and started encouraging them to be just like God made them. We should celebrate our differences, not just our sameness. This is not to say that we should tolerate or celebrate sin and heretical ideas. It is to say that among those who are members of the Church – who trust Jesus alone as their Lord and Savior – the songs we sing, the places we gather, the clothes we wear, the languages we speak and the many other things making us unique and different and precious need not divide our witness or water down our message.

Even when we know the Biblical narrative of God and humanity, we can fall into thinking that Israelites are first class citizens and everyone else are outsiders. Acts 10 reveals the deeper truth that God is inviting all peoples and nations into His family through faith in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection on our behalf.

Every time we hear the Gospel, it is all about crossing a bridge from death to life, from despair to hope; from bondage to sin into freedom in Christ. Basically, it’s all about grace – that you are loved; that you are forgiven; that you are family; and that you are free to be changed, transformed and made new because of the love and grace of God.

Let us be shepherds who accompany our youth through their darkest valleys. Let us be involved parents and grandparents and neighbors and mentors who keep our children on right pathways. Let us be listening ears and searching eyes in order that we may discover those who are hurting, lost and lonely among us.

The disciples encountered the risen Jesus with a mixture of fear, joy, disbelief, and wonder. Jesus stands among us to open our minds through the testimony of the scripture to see and experience what God is about in raising Jesus from the dead and creating in us a living faith. We are witnesses sent out by Jesus to share this good news to those we encounter creating a foundation for life and hope.

God has a mission for you. You simply need to be willing to let God use you as a teacher, a doctor, a farmer, a custodian, a mother, a father - whoever you are whatever you do, allow God to work through you and in you as an instrument of grace and as a mouthpiece of His mercy.