Pentecost means more in this messed up world

The Evanston Nouveau Rotary Club, a secular service organization, meets around a fire. Photo: Gerald Farinas.

Look around. The world is upside down.

The President of the United States is arguing like a child with a billionaire on social media while people suffer.

A million Russian soldiers and nearly half a million Ukrainians are dead from a war that shows no mercy.

In Gaza, children and mothers are being killed, and the world just watches.

Climate disasters are becoming normal—floods one day, dust storms the next.

Millions of Americans are about to lose their healthcare, even while food prices soar and the rich get richer.

ICE agents are sweeping through our neighborhoods in Chicago, tearing apart families to meet quotas set by cruel leaders.

This is the world we live in.

So why in the world does Pentecost still matter?

Because Pentecost is power.

Pentecost is fire.

Pentecost is God breaking in.

It’s not just a story from long ago. It’s not just a church tradition with red decorations and a reading from the Book of Acts.

Pentecost is the moment when God said, “I will not stay silent while the world burns.”

It’s when the Holy Spirit rushed into a group of scared people and turned them into bold voices of truth and justice.

When the Spirit came, the world wasn’t calm. It was full of empire, poverty, injustice, and fear. And still, God showed up.

And God shows up today.

The Spirit is still moving—right in the middle of this mess.

In every language, in every cry for justice, in every protest, every prayer, every meal shared with a hungry neighbor—the Spirit is speaking.

When the world gets louder with cruelty, God gets louder with courage.

Pentecost reminds us that the Church isn’t meant to sit quietly and wait for peace.

No.

The Church was born in chaos.

The Church was made for hard times.

The Church was made to stand up, speak out, and act with bold love.

We are Pentecost people.

We are not meant to hide.

We are not meant to stay comfortable.

We are not meant to look away when people suffer.

The Spirit didn’t give the disciples comfort—it gave them courage.

They left their safe room and went into the streets.

They preached.

They healed.

They gave what they had.

They created a new way of living where everyone had enough and no one was left behind.

That’s what we’re called to do now.

In a time when families are afraid of deportation, when seniors can’t afford medicine, when children are bombed in war zones, when the earth itself is crying out—we must become the kind of Church Pentecost created!

A Church that burns with justice.

A Church that dreams new dreams.

A Church that speaks the truth in every language.

A Church that refuses to bow to fear.

If you’re feeling powerless in the face of all this suffering, remember this: Pentecost was not about power from governments or billionaires.

It was about power from God.

And that power lives in us.

Now is not the time to go quiet.

Now is not the time to play it safe.

Now is the time to let the fire fall again.

Because the Spirit is still speaking.

Because the world still needs justice.

Because Pentecost still matters.

And because we still have work to do.