It Takes All Kinds

Pentecost is sometimes called the birthday of the church. Pentecost was Gods Spirit poured out on all flesh, for the whole world. The miracle was that diverse peoples gathered from throughout the earth heard speech in their native languages from others. This was the Spirit, opening the message of Jesus Christ to all persons. Pentecost means the Christian church is for all people. And within the church, it takes all kinds. Jesus emphasized this when he quoted the first commandment. He said it was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength (Mark 12:30). The force of this is to say we are to love God with all that is within us. Our commitments to God should be total. I bring the love of my heart, the devotion of my soul, the best of my intellect, and all my actions to serving God fully, entirely, in my whole life. All Christians hear this command. But Jesus was also opening the doors to make room for all kinds of people in the church. If all believers loved God with all that is within us, wed have a rich diversity of experience and expressions of it! In the church we need the one who feels with the heart, the one whose faith is expressed in the devotion of the soul, the one who brings critical reflection to bear, and the doers of the word who work for the Lord, tirelessly. Pentecost shows me that I need not reject those whose religious experience or emphases are not like my own. The Spirit of God loves diversity! The Peace Corps used to say: It takes all

2 kinds to make a world; and the Peace Corps takes all kinds. So with the church. It takes all kinds to make a church; and the church takes all kinds!