“In the midst of transition (or change) the work is going to be about creation…about cooperating with God in re-creating ourselves…about becoming more fully what God calls us to be.”
— Debra K Farrington, The Seasons of a Restless Heart, as quoted in Mother Shelley’s sermon on Stewardship, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2014.
In this week’s newsletter, the rector notes Pentecost’s reversal of Babel—not by restoring a single language, but by enabling understanding across difference as each speaks and hears in their own tongue. She treasures hearing parishioners read “God’s deeds of power” in many languages during worship, and invites us to consider what it means to speak of God in our own heart language—whether shaped by mother tongue, place, trust, or profound shared experience. In a time of contempt for difference, Pentecost reveals the blessing of many tongues and the Holy Spirit’s gift of mutual understanding across culture, faith, and ethnic background.
Listen to the sermon preached by the Rev. Ed Chinery on the Seventh Sunday of Easter, May 17, 2026.