From Purley to Speyer

“We come from many places to worship here today. Across the world, Christians of every nation and language will gather to worship the same God who calls us here. We are different but united in our commitment to Jesus. We stand together, using the gifts God has given us. We respond to God’s blessing and become a blessing to others; for the Spirit knows no boundaries and speaks all languages.”

Those words were spoken by Russell in his ‘introduction to worship’ at Purley URC this Pentecost Sunday (24 May). He went on to preach a sermon based, of course, around the power of the Holy Spirit. With his permission, this piece uses some excerpts from it. Referring to the reading from Acts, Chapter 2 about the spirit of God descending like ‘tongues of fire’ onto the heads of Galileans who were then understood by people from many different language backgrounds, he went on:

“ … Pentecost is about communication. People from many nations hear the good news in their own language. Parthians, Medes, Elamites, visitors from Rome, Egypt and Libya. People who would normally remain strangers suddenly hear something they understand. The gospel crosses boundaries immediately. Language barriers fall. Cultural barriers fall. Social barriers begin to fall. The Spirit does not create a private religious club. The Spirit pushes the Church outward. Because the good news of Jesus is always bigger than one nation, one class, one culture or one tradition. ………… The Spirit asks whether others can hear hope in a language they understand. That matters enormously in 2026. We live in a world deeply hungry for hope. A world weary from war. A world anxious about politics and economics. A world fearful about climate change and the future. A world where loneliness and isolation grow even while technology connects us. And into that world comes the message of Pentecost: God has not abandoned humanity. God is still speaking. God is still reaching out. God’s Spirit is still moving. A new hope awakens.”

With those thoughts in mind, a group of intrepid travellers will be leaving Purley on 26 July for Speyer in to take part in the 18th gathering of our International Partnership of Churches, following in a tradition that has been observed pretty much every three years since the first conference took place here in Purley in 1971 – of which you can see the official photograph just beyond the doors leading into the kitchen corridor from the Foyer. (How differently people dressed and posed for photographs back then!).

We shall be going into a situation where there will be people who speak languages that many of us don’t understand. But it doesn’t matter – because with the help of sign language, smiles and laughter and some helpful acting – and of course the power of the Holy Spirit! – , we all communicate with one another. And we shall be talking there formally, and most likely informally as well, about how our five church communities, in Germany (2), the Czech Republic, the United States and the UK live out our faith in all our very different situations, but all experiencing massive changes in the way in which our churches present themselves and are viewed within their communities. So Russell’s words later in his sermon were also very relevant in this context: “Can we imagine new ways of being Church? Can we speak hope in a changing world? Can we cross boundaries rather than protect them? Can we hear voices different from our own? Can we trust that God is still doing something new? At Purley United Reformed Church we know that the landscape of church life is changing. Patterns of ministry are changing. Society is changing. Expectations are changing. And change can feel unsettling.”

It is especially good that Purley’s group of 16 going to Speyer includes five who have never attended a Partnership event before, nine who have never attended an event other than in Purley, and five teenagers and young adults.

They are:

As we listen to the experiences of friends in our other partner churches in Dessau, Hartford and Ostrava, we hope that we, like those who witnessed the first Pentecost, will see and feel the power of the Holy Spirit to sustain and support us even when we struggle to understand the actual words being spoken! Please remember us in your thoughts and prayers, for we travel as your representatives and look forward to reflecting back on our experiences there in the autumn.