This week while visiting my Grandma, she told me about a recent news story that really touched my heart. A young boy with autism was about to celebrate his birthday, and invited all his classmates to his party. The heartbreaking part of the story is that only one classmate showed up. As a mother- with my own sweet child who has additional needs- this is one of the fears that keeps me up at night.
With Pentecost coming up, our own “birthday party” as a church, I have been reflecting on inclusiveness. It was easy for me to see God’s intent to include people from every nation and walk of life in this story.
There is a beautiful end to this story! The boy’s father, clearly heartbroken himself, learned through the grapevine how frequently this kind of thing occurs to kids who are viewed as “different.” He contacted the local Autism Centre, and together they organized a giant “birthday party” for all the kids who belonged to the programs. They all had a blast playing with each other, devouring their own personal birthday cake, and singing, “Happy Birthday to Everyone!” It was such a success that it is now going to be an annual event.
With Pentecost coming up, our own “birthday party” as a church, I have been reflecting on inclusiveness. It was easy for me to see God’s intent to include people from every nation and walk of life in this story. During the significant time of celebration, God poured His Spirit out in a way that surpassed every cultural expression and language barrier, enabling his followers to understand the different languages of everyone nearby. They were joined together, and brought closer to one another, through the Holy Spirit. And let’s not forget that they were there to begin with because they wanted to be like Jesus himself- the man who believed in loving and including everyone with no exceptions.
Today, we as Christians are working hard to demonstrate both inclusiveness and inclusivity. I see this every day in our church through our outreach to the less-fortunate, our Safe Space signs on the doors, the Territorial Acknowledgement in each service..the list goes on. This fulfilment of our Christian duties is a reflection of that same Spirit that descended on a hodgepodge group of Jesus-followers all those years ago, coming together as one. Amen!