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Year A: Pentecost Sunday Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12: 3-7, 12-13 The Christians at Corinth were a community filled to overflowing with the Spirit although they tended to be more impressed by the dramatic expressions of the work of the Spirit than in the quieter ways in which the Spirit moved. St Paul is reminding them that the gifts of the Spirit are many and various and all are given to build up the Body of Christ. This work requires all kinds of service - and people are allocated the gifts that are appropriate to their work. They will be different - some dramatic - some quieter - but it is always the same Spirit at work. The Spirit also gives unity to God’s people - we become parts of the same body, unified in Christ. Whatever the differences between us at one level, the Spirit unites us all at a deeper one. This is a wonderful vision of the meaning of Pentecost and the coming of the Spirit. Our individual gifts are combined with the gifts of others and together, we accomplish more than could ever be dreamt possible: a case of the total being greater than the sum of the individual parts. We find that the Spirit can help us to overcome racial and cultural differences - to genuinely see others as brothers - sisters - or, even more intimately - as members of the same Body. Even two thousand years later, this is a radical view of how the world could be. Imagine what the world would be like if we really allowed the Spirit free rein - to blow through us and unite us and our gifts in the service of the Kingdom.... Just imagine what it would mean for relationships between different groups of people.... would we need legislation in order to see people as equal before God? Would people kill because someone belonged to a different religious or ethnic group? What would such a world be like...
What does it mean for me?
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