Varieties of One

It has occurred to me lately that every year the beginning of Pride monthly sits on the threshold between Pentecost and Trinity Sunday. That we in the church celebrate the varieties of gifts of the Holy Spirit, the diversity of the church and the multiplicity of our God yet still one - captures part of what we celebrate during Pride month. This image is based on 1 Corinthians 12:3-13, one of the readings for Pentecost Sunday. As I read the passage the words one, same, each, varieties, many and all repeat over and over again. I imagined the rainbow of the Holy Spirit flowing through the church - a diverse collection of members with the same body. I imagined the Spirit that reflects the diversity of creation, echoing the multiplicity of creation in Genesis - all created by the same God.

The passage ends with:

For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

If this was written today we would add to that list “gay or straight”. Happy Pride and Pentecost.