🔥 Heart on Fire: Diversity in Unity

Year of Breath: Pentecost Prayers, Prompts, and 99 Red Balloons 🎈

As summer peeks at us around the corner, we find ourselves on the Day of Pentecost. Celebrated fifty days after Easter, this day marks the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church—a time when a diverse group of people became united by the Spirit’s transformative power.

This week, turn to the “Parades and Pentecost” mini-chapter on pages 242 - 246 of Every Season Sacred for a reflective essay, breath prayer, open-ended family connection questions, family activity ideas, and two prayers to share with your family.

You can also find “A Prayer for Pentecost” on page 165 of To Light Their Way.

As we navigate yet another election year in the U.S. filled with divisive rhetoric and culture wars, Pentecost reminds us of what true unity looks like. This time on the church calendar is a call to celebrate and honor differences as gifts that can strengthen our communities rather than divide them.

Across the globe, Christians remember and reflect on what we read in Acts 2: God's Spirit poured out on ordinary people, changing everything forever.

Imagine the scene: A ragtag group of people gathered together, filled with anticipation, wonder, and perhaps a touch of weariness. Jesus had promised them something extraordinary: though he was leaving, he would send his spirit.

They held on to this promise, worshiping and waiting

And waiting

And waiting

…with hope.

Then, suddenly, it happened.

The Holy Spirit descended upon them like a mighty wind.

"When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting"

Acts 2:1-2, NIV

At that moment, everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit, breathing in the gift of God's divine presence and and power, speaking in new languages as a sign of the Spirit's work among them.

Unity does not mean uniformity but a blazing fire of different voices coming together.

Pentecost reminds us that in seasons of waiting, the Spirit is with us, breathing life and hope into our hearts.

Pentecost also reminds us that the Spirit of God shows us our differences can be a source of strength, not division.

Consider how the Holy Spirit might be moving in your family this summer.

Just as the early church experienced a profound and life-changing presence, we too can experience the Spirit's transformative power in our homes and hearts.

Yours for this Week

Year of Breath is a private, paid community with weekly reflections. It also helps me pay the bills as a working writer! (Thank you!) Keep reading for:

• intentional breath prayers

• curated playlist for hearts on fire

• Scripture

• reflection prompts

• weekly phone wallpaper/lockscreen

• benediction