A few years ago, I had the privilege of joining a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Alongside twenty other travelers, we journeyed through Jerusalem, Nazareth, Galilee, and other sacred sites. When the trip began, I acted more like a tourist; trying to take the best photos, see every famous site, and figure out when we could buy souvenirs.

But over the first few days, something in me began to shift because of the people I was with. Not because of something I read in the Bible or our study material, but because of the Spirit of God moving through the fellowship of men and women around me. In that kind of communion, being a tourist collecting experiences no longer fit. We were pilgrims drawn toward God (ad Deum, adios, adieu) for something greater.

One of the gifts we experienced was the universal presence of the global Church. At the Jordan River, hundreds of Ethiopian believers were being baptized and singing with contagious joy. At the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, mosaics of Mary and Jesus from 43 different countries fill the courtyard, each reflecting the beauty, culture, and color of its nation.

One especially meaningful site was the church at the top of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. It is called Pater Noster because large ceramic tiles displaying the Lord's Prayer in 140 different languages line the cloisters; and it is breathtaking. I mean that both figuratively and literally.

In the Bible, the word for spirit is also the word for breath and wind. In Acts, as Tim Mackie explains, seeing "how a marginal, small Messianic Jewish sect became an international multi-ethnic movement that will become the most ethnically diverse religious movement in human history" is breathtaking. Only the Spirit, the breath of God, could move in this way.

I hope you will join us this Sunday as we celebrate Pentecost, the gift of God's Spirit and the birth of the global Church.