Our talk began simply: “What’s good about writing an IO reflection? What’s hard for you?” We laughed as common complaints came up about keeping the reflection short enough for reading on a cell-phone, and nodded over differences in how long one needed to dwell with the scripture to let a personal experience emerge. Although we had not met in-person for over three years, we could hear Spirit pulsing through our words while we considered what to keep and what to let go of as we shift to a new digital host on June 1.
The traditional understanding of Pentecost has been about speaking in tongues, but the actual text describes Jews from different countries hearing each other in their own language.* I’ve experienced that in acts of kindness by strangers in the highlands of Guatemala, on the streets of Bangkok, in the countryside of Italy, and in the Deep South of our own country. Language barriers crossed. Human connection made. Enough to know that Pentecost happens whenever we hear meaning beyond speech – when Spirit moves from one to many.
Really hearing one-another seems to be in short supply these days, but even though the InwardOutward (IO) writers come from four different communities within Church of the Saviour, and write in very different ways, there was an underlying trust that made our decisions easy. We will let go of the daily quotes for now, focus on writing a personal gospel reflection, and add a single live link to some additional resource – a song, a poem, a book, or something else beyond the reflection questions that we usually provide.
Our new digital host will be a staff member at the Festival Center, but we will retain our separate website, InwardOutward.org, as Church of the Saviour. That means you can still find the archive recordings of Gordon Cosby’s sermons and order Elizabeth O’Connor’s books via InwardOutward.org. The quarterly newsletter, CALLINGS, will also be posted there. And we will join whatever social media outlets the Festival Center (festivalcenter.org) uses.
This year, Pentecost does indeed mean a new beginning.
–Marjory Zoet Bankson, Editor of InwardOutward.org
- When did you really connect with someone who spoke a different language from yours?
- Where have you experienced “being heard” at a deep level?
- What can you do to facilitate connection among differing groups?
