Episode 208: Reaching Out -- Pentecost

Alix Pridgen

In this Pentecost sermon, Rev. Dr. Alix D. Pridgen contrasts the grasping pride of Babel with the outpouring grace of Pentecost. Where Babel was about reaching upward to make a name, Pentecost is about opening outward to make space for the Spirit. Through vivid storytelling—from a dusty plain in Shinar to a peeling church porch in Kansas—Pridgen shows that the Holy Spirit doesn’t rush into towers of power, but into places of humility, hospitality, and hope. She weaves together scripture, small-town witness, and the historic election of Bishop Donna Simon to proclaim that Pentecost isn’t a one-time spectacle. It’s God’s ongoing pattern of grace—blowing through mismatched chairs and open hearts, making not just movements, but community.