May 31, 2020 Day of Pentecost Online Worship. Sermon: Breaking Open Barriers

Small acts of welcoming a stranger or someone who is outcast can make an enormous difference. In this moment where a virus, violence, and the oppressions against Black and Brown people, queer people, people in poverty, disabled people, and all vulnerable people, are threatening our communities and our very world, this Day of Pentecost is a reminder of the fire that burns away the forces that divide us and the power of love to unite. We especially remain in prophetic lamentation for George Floyd and others killed by the brutality of police violence and white supremacy. Like Jesus’s first followers, we, too, are spurred into action and as part of a sacred movement of justice in the name of a beloved one killed by imperial powers. Pentecost reminds us that God breaks open all barriers, and that nothing can separate us from one another.

Copyright permissions notifications “Send Down the Fire,” text and tune: Marty Haugen © 1989 GIA Publications Inc. Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-730247. All Rights Reserved. Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from ONELICENSE with license #A-730247. All Rights Reserved.

“Acts 2:1-8” are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All Rights Reserved.

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