One Living Body in Christ

 

Pentecost Sunday 2026

 

May 24, 2026

www.johnpredmoresj.com | predmore.blogspot.com

Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104; 1 Corinthians 12:3-13; John 20:19-23

 

The arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost shows us God’s continued interest in our world. God remains an active part of our lives and promises to evolve with us as we head to more complexity. Pentecost reminds us that we live in a time in which our church and our world are unfinished, and we are invited to become fully and actively involved in God’s grand project.

 

God’s project is much more than saving our souls and keeping us from falling into sin and hell. That is what we learned in our religious education of our youth. Pentecost is about consciously creating a positive difference in the world that has become increasingly complex. This is a divine project that respects the innate longing of all creation, not just humans, to reach the fulfillment God always held out for us. Today, people of faith are integrating our beliefs into a rapidly changing and complex world. 

 

Pentecost is the moment when many different people become one living body through the Spirit. This Spirit-event emphasizes that all people are interdependent parts of a greater whole, working side by side in service to God. It focuses on the universality of God’s evolutionary plan. We, therefore, become concerned for issues like planetary ecology, global warming, and overpopulation. We focus our attention on such matters like emerging diseases, terrorism, mass shootings, nuclear weapons, and the displacement of persons. We are developing a cosmic consciousness, that is “for God’s greater glory.” We do not want to simply work, harder, faster, or more efficiently. We want to work more lovingly, more gratefully, more consciously, and more focused on promoting the development of the universal Body of Christ.

 

We can no longer see ourselves as independent persons seeking individual salvation. That is an un-ripened spirituality. We can see ourselves as interdependent parts of a whole. We need to lift up everyone, so that we no longer let people stay in terrible situations. We need to lift up people from poverty, from hunger, from being unhoused, from servitude, from ignorance, or from lack of purpose. This is a project of radical love.

 

What kind of people must we be today? We need to be team players, community builders, peacemakers, and researchers. We need to be flexible, resilient, forgiving, optimistic people. We need to learn to pray together, to contemplate together, to envision and create a new future together. Of course, the church calls us to listen first and then speak compassionately. We want to help others achieve their maximum potential and stretch the horizon, to envision what does not yet exist, and to make that happen. We have to live in the “now” and also the “yet that is to come.”  

 

The Spirit forms us together, breathes through us together, and sends us together for the life of the world. The Spirit guides and unites. Pentecost breaks open every boundary of tribe, nation, language, and status. The Spirit forms a universal Body of Christ stretching across the world and across time itself. We are part of something infinitely larger than ourselves — a people being shaped into the living presence of Christ in the world. To this, I can only say, “Wow. Yes. Sign me up.” Do you want to come?