Being Pentecost

Sermon Recorded on Pentecost & Shavuot, at Allen Temple AME Church, Mt. Vernon, NY USA 5/28/2023

Rev. Hugh Mariott and Rami Avraham Efal co-lead Birkat Hakohanim, the Priestly Blessing closing the service.

I was invited by my friend, Reverend Hugh Marriott, teacher, fellow chaplain and pastor of AME church in Mount Vernon New York USA, to give a sermon on the day of Pentecost. I've woven, through Jewish prayers & melodies, sections from the book of Acts, Exodus & Zohar, Jewish and Black African-American Christian experiences, grief and communities, some of my own personal experiences of bearing witness, and the paradox of being fully transparent to one's self, while emptying one's self to receive the abundance of, and be, the Holy Spirit, the embodied Torah, of this very moment. I am grateful to Rev. Hugh and his community for their invitation, warm welcoming and sharing of our sacred days.

Credits: Melody of Adonai S’ftai Tiftach by Rabbi Shawn Zevit; Melody for Ozi V’zimrat Yah by Rav Kohenet Taya Ma Shere. Photo courtesy of Allen Temple AME in Mt. Vernon, NY.