The Holy Disrupter
For Meditation (Corey Widmer)
Our text this week is one of the great, classic passages of the New Testament: the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost. This story of wind and fire, of many languages and confused crowds, is wild, unsettling, inspiring—perhaps all at once! But what does this event really mean? And what does it have to do with our calling as God’s people today?
There are two key movements in this story that we’ll explore together. First, the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost is God breaking in to the hearts and lives of his people. When Jesus ascends to heaven in Acts 1, it may have felt to the disciples like he was leaving them, perhaps even abandoning them. How could they possibly carry out his mission without him? But Pentecost reveals something surprising: Jesus does not leave to distance himself from his people, but to draw even nearer. Through the Spirit, the very presence of God is now internalized and distributed among his people.
But the second movement is just as crucial. As soon as the Spirit is given, the community is broken open, sent outward to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom to the diverse peoples gathered in Jerusalem. Each person hears the wonders of God in their own language, their own “heart tongue,” and is equipped to carry that good news back to the places they have come from. In this moment, we begin to see the fulfillment of God’s promise to bless all nations (Genesis 12:1–2).
As we consider what it means to “grow small,” Pentecost offers a powerful vision. The Spirit does not simply make the church bigger or louder, but rather makes it more attentive, more personal, more particular. God meets people where they are, speaking to them in ways they can truly hear and understand. And then he sends his people to do the same.
This week, we’ll reflect on what it might look like for us to become a Pentecost-shaped community, people who are filled with God’s presence, and who are learning, by the Spirit’s power, to “speak people fluently.” Where might God be calling you to move toward someone, to listen more deeply, and to embody the good news in a way that can truly be heard?
Reflection & Discussion Questions
The disciples may have felt abandoned when Jesus ascended. Where in your life do you feel like God is distant or absent? How might Pentecost reshape that perception?
What stands out to you about the way the Spirit comes at Pentecost (wind, fire, language)? What do these images reveal about who God is and how he relates to his people?
At Pentecost, people hear the good news in their own language. What might it look like for you to “speak someone’s language” in your everyday life?
How does the vision of “Growing Small” challenge the way you typically think about mission, influence, or impact?
Is there a specific person or place where you sense God inviting you to be more present, attentive, or intentional? What would one small step look like this week? Whose "language" might be God calling you to speak?
Acts 2:1-13
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”