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Opening hook

Some of you may listen to the Radio 4 programme Add to Playlist. If you don’t, then I highly recommend it. Two guests join the two regular hosts, each bringing along different pieces of music. One might bring a Renaissance choral motet; the other, a piece of modern jazz. On paper, they shouldn’t sit together. Different eras. Different moods. Different sounds.

And yet, there is always some sort of musical connection with the piece that went before. One episode linked a Mozart Violin Concerto with a song by Taylor Swift – another linked ‘Sarabande’ by Debussy with a track by Amy Winehouse. By the end of each programme, the listener realises that the musical selections don’t compete, they converse, each informing the other.

Pentecost feels like that kind of Sunday. Four readings. Four ‘tracks.’ Different genres. Different moods. Each informing the other about the one Spirit. So, if Pentecost were an episode of Add to Playlist, what would we hear?

Track 1: Acts 2 – The brass band

Acts Chapter 2 arrives loudly. A violent wind. Tongues of fire. Crowds gathering. Accusations of drunkenness.

If this were music, it would be a local brass band playing in the centre of town. Boisterous, joyous, loud. Something impossible to ignore. This is public faith. This is God breaking into the town centre.

The miracle of Pentecost is not that everyone speaks the same language. It is that each person hears in their own. Parthians, Medes, Elamites… the list itself sounds musical – a litany of difference.

Pentecost does not erase accent. It does not flatten culture. It does not demand uniformity. Instead, the Spirit makes understanding possible within diversity. That’s track one: bold, disruptive, unmistakable.

Track 2: Psalm 104 – The orchestra

Then Psalm 104 begins to play. Suddenly, we’re not just in a shopping precinct but in the whole of creation: ‘O Lord, how manifold are your works… You send forth your Spirit, and they are created.’

If Acts is a brass band, then the Psalm is the strings section of an orchestra – sweeping, expansive, cinematic. It reminds us that the Spirit did not begin in Acts 2.

The Spirit hovered over the waters in Genesis. The Spirit animates birds and beasts. The Spirit is in the oceans and the mountains. She is the divine glory in the tabernacle. She brings dry bones to life in Ezekiel. Pentecost is not a new invention. It is a renewal of what’s been there since the beginning of time: ‘You renew the face of the earth.’

This is the deep theme beneath the first louder track. The Spirit who fills the Church in Acts is the same Spirit who sustains creation. The Church’s ‘song’ must therefore harmonise with the song of the earth.

Track 3: 1 Corinthians 12 – The layered harmonies

In the reading that we missed from Corinthians, Paul adds his contribution. ‘Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.’

If Acts is public spectacle and the Psalm is an orchestral sweep, then Corinthians is layered harmony – soprano, alto, tenor, bass. Different gifts. Different ministries. Different activities. One Spirit.

Paul knows the Church can struggle with difference. Some voices want to dominate. Some feel unnecessary. Some think their sound is the only sound that matters. But Paul insists: the Spirit composes in harmony.

The eye is not the ear. The hand is not the foot. The preacher is not (usually) the person welcoming at the door. The activist is not the contemplative. But each part matters.

On Add to Playlist, the joy comes when you realise the contrast is not competition. Pentecost teaches the Church to listen like that.

Track 4: John 20 – The solo

And then we hear the Gospel. The doors are locked. The disciples are afraid. No windstorm. No fire. No crowd. Just breath: ‘Jesus breathed on them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit.”’

This is an intimate acoustic piece. Almost fragile. The same Spirit – but whispered.

So, here’s the surprise of Pentecost: the Spirit is not only in the spectacular. The Spirit is also in the locked room. In the quiet hospital ward. In the whispered prayer. In the forgiveness spoken in tears, face-to-face.

The Spirit roars – and the Spirit breathes. Both belong on the playlist.

The surprise of the episode

In Add to Playlist, what makes the programme compelling is not just that the pieces are so very different from each other. It’s that they illuminate each other.

Acts without the Gospel of John could make us think that the Spirit is only dramatic. John without Acts could make us think the Spirit is only private. Corinthians without the Psalm could make us think the Spirit is only for the Church. The Psalm without Acts could make us forget about the Church’s calling. Together, they form something fuller. Pentecost is not mono. It’s surround-sound.

A pastoral turn

Perhaps the deeper invitation for us today is this: What ‘track’ of the Spirit do you resonate with most?

Are you drawn to the boldness of Acts – public witness, courageous speech? Are you drawn to the quiet of John – breath shared in fearful places? Are you attuned to the Psalm – the Spirit in wind, water, and soil? Or are you living in Corinthians – negotiating difference or a role within community? The good news of Pentecost is this: you do not need to be every track. But you are part of the composition…

The danger of a one-track church

However, churches sometimes prefer one genre. Some want all fire and volume. Some want reverent quiet. Some love theological structure. Some focus on creation care. But the Spirit refuses to be reduced to a single style.

A Church that only shouts may forget to breathe. A Church that only whispers may forget to speak. A Church that prizes one gift may silence another. Pentecost invites us to become better listeners.

The climax: One breath, many voices

We have wind in Acts. Spirit in the Psalm. Life in Corinthians. A breathing Christ in John. The connection is that, in Hebrew and Greek, the word for Spirit is the same as breath and wind.

As the Church, we are wind-instrument people. If the Spirit withdraws from us, if the breath stops, then the music stops. But when the Spirit fills, something extraordinary happens: difference becomes dialogue; language becomes understanding; fear becomes peace – and isolation becomes a harmony of many.

Conclusion

If Pentecost were an episode of Add to Playlist, one of the hosts might say at the end: “These pieces shouldn’t work together. But when you listen closely, you realise they share a pulse.”

That pulse is the Spirit. The Spirit who shakes streets. The Spirit who renews creation. The Spirit who distributes gifts. The Spirit who breathes peace into fear.

Many tracks. One breath. And perhaps the final question is not simply what we hear but what we will add. What do you and I add? Because Pentecost is not only God’s playlist, it’s the Church’s – and the Church is us, you and me.

And today, here in this place, with you and with me, in the pews and in the choir stalls, that same Spirit is still composing… Amen.

‘Add to Playlist: The Sound of the Spirit’ was delivered by Ian Banks in Christ Church, Walmersley at
Pentecost, May 24th 2026. It was based on Acts 2:1–21; Psalm 104; 1 Corinthians 12:3b–13 and John 20:19–23

References:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002r4yk

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0028v4s