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Good morning. The Burnley I see out of my window right now is a calm and peaceful place, nestled between the dramatic hills of the Lancashire Pennines. Twenty years ago it was anything but calm. For several days in 2001 the town was rocked by serious disturbances with white and Asian gangs, stoked up by far right groups, fighting Police, burning cars and looting shops. For me that sudden outburst of violence demonstrates something of the fragility of relationships. People who one day were each other’s neighbours suddenly became enemies. It’s as if the potential for violence is an ever present danger, lurking just beneath the surface of human interaction. We saw the same phenomenon in the recent outbreak of communal violence in some Israeli towns. In the past it has been demonstrated to a far greater extreme in the vicious civil conflicts in Bosnia and Rwanda. Ethnic and religious differences which one day seem to be accepted can suddenly turn murderous. It’s easy to respond to this danger with pious platitudes. Well-meaning people, often far from the action, will speak airily of tolerance and respect. But it takes rather more than that for people to live together with difference. Yesterday Christians kept the feast of Pentecost, the day when we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit who is the enduring presence of Christ in his world. The Bible records that, through the Spirit, the disciples were miraculously able to speak to an international gathering each in their own tongue. The symbolism is clear. The human race, once dispersed, is reunited in the power of the Holy Spirit who breaks down boundaries and makes people one. But importantly, the foundation of this unity was not an empty pietism. The disciples used their gift of tongues to speak of ‘the mighty works of God’. The unity that the Spirit brings is rooted in a new narrative. Words are not enough. Unity needs shared lives and shared stories. Burnley is a very different town from 20 years ago. Recently when a ‘White Lives Matter’ banner was flown over a football match, the condemnation of the perpetrator was widespread, led by the team’s impressive captain, Ben Mee. But this continuing work of reconciliation is not being achieved with anodyne sentiments. It takes hard work, honest conversations and the intentional building of friendships across divides. Genuine social cohesion requires more than values and good intentions. It also needs shared lives. It needs people whose commitment to each other is so great that together they can tell a new story.