Sacred Celebrations

What is Pentecost? Imagine you’re in an upstairs room in Jerusalem. It’s been fifty days since Passover. Outside, the streets are still crowded with pilgrims who’ve traveled from every corner of the ancient world for the festival season. And then — without warning — the room erupts. A sound like a violent, rushing wind fills…

The Jewish people call it Shavuot — the Festival of Weeks. Christians call it Pentecost Sunday. They’re celebrating the same ancient moment on different days, in different ways, with different emphases. And yet underneath both celebrations is a question that I find genuinely compelling: what does it mean to receive a gift of wisdom so…