“When the Day of Pentecost had come…all were filled with the Holy Spirit.”—from Acts 2
When I began journeying with ELPC six months ago, we were too busy in the holiday season to schedule an installation service. After I was officially received into the Pittsburgh Presbytery at the beginning of 2025, Lent was about to commence. I remember shrugging at the idea of an installation service. “There’s no time for an installation service,” I thought. “Do we really need one?” The Pittsburgh Presbytery emphatically reminded me that we do indeed need one! After experiencing the Spirit at my installation service last month, I am grateful for the presbytery’s wisdom.
The Spirit was present throughout the service through your prayers, presence, joyful music, sacred laughter, and emotional tears. Thank you for showing up with your love as the Spirit showed up in powerful messages from Rev. Dr. Robert Griffin, Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins, and Rev. Sarah Robbins. I am particularly thankful to Dr. Ed Moore and ELPC’s music ministry who commissioned a special arrangement of one of my favorite hymns, We Are the Church Alive. Written in 1980 by Jack Hoggat-St. John and David Pelletier, the hymn was written by musicians from the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, a Christian denomination with a primary affirming outreach to LGBTQIA peoples.
We are the Church Alive,
Christ’s presence on this earth
We give God’s Spirit body in
The act of our new birth.
As yielded open channels
For God’s descending dove,
We shout and sing, With joy we bring
God’s all-inclusive love.
As our choir sang those words—words that gave me hope when I first began living out my calling years ago, a flood of emotions poured over me. It wasn’t just a song, but a reminder that ELPC is not only a beautiful building with a historic past. We are called to be the church who is alive to the Spirit’s call, to one another, and to the work of love and justice in our neighborhood and beyond.
Now that we’ve made a holy covenant to journey with each other, to dream together, and to grow together, we turn our attention to Pentecost and the season of the Spirit. The Spirit of Pentecost blew into an upper room with wind and with understanding. People who had never spoken the same language suddenly found themselves comprehending one another’s deepest truths. That’s the Spirit we need now more than ever. We need the Holy Spirit who bridges gaps, disrupts indifference, and makes us bold enough to proclaim love to the world.
As we move into our summer worship schedule with one Sunday morning service at 10 am, I hope you’ll remember that the Spirit of God is not finished moving in our lives. The Spirit and the Church is yet alive.
—Pastor Michael