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access lives of holy people, Acts of the Apostle, Alleluia, Pentecost, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
Today is the great feast of Pentecost which many Christian churches consider the “birthday of the Church.” There are more reading choices than on almost any day in our lectionary – including the selection from the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2, that talks about it as the day when all the different groups who spoke different languages heard the apostles speaking in their own and understood (often a challenge of pronunciation for the lector!). One can really catch the importance of the day by reading all of the texts for the vigil and for today – 16 in all, counting the “ALLELUIA!” verses. For me, the most poignant of all that shone out from the collection is the plea of the gospel acclamation that I have known since childhood that calls out, Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love!
May it be so! Alleluia!
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 
At my church, Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd on East 31st street, we have a tradition of having the passage in Acts 2 read in different languages all at the same time from the congregation. Today, somebody described it as waves of sounds. In the past, it has been read in as many as eight languages, this year we had four, but it still had the effect of waves.
WOW! That’s fantastic! I can only imagine how effective it would be. Thanks for telling us!