At 9 a.m. on May 24, dozens of parishioners filled the pews of Old South Church in Boston — the looming Gothic Revival church that greets Bostonians at the corner of Dartmouth and Boylston Streets — to hear the story of Pentecost. At 10 a.m., they lived out the story firsthand. 

“Pentecost is the church holiday where we celebrate the part of the story after Jesus went back up into heaven,” said associate minister Ashley Popperson. “His followers from many nations were gathered for the Jewish festival of Shabirot, so folks who spoke all different languages were all together. And then what happened was the Spirit of God came down to them and they could suddenly understand one another and they founded the church.”

As she recounted the biblical telling of Pentecost, her hands were busy cutting out posters for local immigrant justice organization LUCE. Each poster provided a phone number to call to report activity by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, as well as a QR code leading to a website with immigrant rights information. The cut-out posters were organized into neat stacks sorted by language: Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Mandarin and French. 

“What we were hoping on this Pentecost day of service is a coming together and a going out of the Holy Spirit from this place into our communities,” Popperson said. “While we’re here doing this at church today, every single one of these little pieces of paper will go out into Back Bay, into Chinatown, into the neighborhoods that we serve and hopefully help our neighbors.”

Old South Church has long been a hub for abolitionists and inclusion advocates. The congregation was established in 1669, making it one of the oldest religious communities in the country, with former members including Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, William Dawes and Phillis Wheatley. 

Popperson explained that LUCE is a neighborhood-based effort with several hubs across Massachusetts, where volunteers distribute “know your rights” cards and posters with information about the LUCE hotline. 

“Those hubs need places for those materials to be printed, prepared and picked up by those volunteers. Old South is centrally located, so getting those supplies ready was something we could do all together,” Popperson said. 

The “we” in question was comprised of Popperson and around a dozen churchgoers including Stephanie LaShoto-Westfield, a workforce development specialist at Mass General Brigham and member of Old South since 2013.

“Old South has been trying to figure out how to make a difference in the immigration space for a while. We’ve tried a lot of different things and I think literally putting information into people’s hands, that we can then disperse with the community will be really helpful,” LaShoto-Westfield said. “This is more than just cutting paper. We’re planting seeds for how we can plug in to our community a little bit more.”

LaShoto-Westfield explained that she often works with immigrant employees at Mass General Brigham, helping them access all possible resources that could help them, from English classes to citizenship information. She said she has even invited employees to Old South as a form of social support.

“Pentecost is a day where people heard others speaking in their own languages. So, having a day of outreach to communities that maybe don’t speak the same languages we do but have the same fundamental rights as we do, [its] a really good occasion,” LaShoto-Westfield said.

Printing and cutting posters wasn’t the only service opportunity available to celebrate Pentecost. Simultaneously in an adjacent kitchen, another dozen worshippers sliced, spread and bagged hundreds of sandwiches to be distributed to the unhoused population in Boston Common that afternoon. They were a combination of Old South members and volunteers with common cathedral, a Boston-based community initiative known for leading outdoor church services and planning outreach opportunities aimed at bridging the gap between housed and unhoused communities.  

“We at Old South are trying to respond to the needs of our partners as they arise, whether that be making sandwiches or simply cutting things apart,” said Kat Woodward, Old South’s Taylor Resident for Mission in the City.  

Woodward explained it was the first time Old South partnered with common cathedral for an opportunity like this, which drew out a larger crowd than expected— “a great problem to have,” Woodward said. 

“On a day like this, when it’s Memorial Day weekend, it means a lot that people are choosing to spend their time here doing this,” Woodward said. 

Among those opting for community service over barbecues was Erik Gardiner, a member of Old South for the past year. As he assembled slices of ham, cheese and lettuce onto a grid of whole wheat bread, he described how he first heard about Old South through the various concerts and events held in the church and eventually decided to join to access more volunteer opportunities. 

“I believe that food is a basic right, so helping individuals get fed is like a duty for me,” Gardiner said. 

When asked what made Pentecost service day at Old South special, Gardiner echoed a similar sentiment to Woodward: the community.

“The fact that there’s a lot of volunteers here means this service strikes a chord with a lot of people. That’s pretty awesome,” Gardiner said. “That’s why I love Old South. The volunteer opportunities and the people.” 

It was a common sentiment among churchgoers. LaShoto-Westfield also described how the connections she made at Old South changed her perspective on participating in religion and formed lasting intergenerational friendships. As a worship leader, Popperson said the individuals who make up the Old South community held a special place in her heart. 

“Part of the gift of being a pastor is you know more about people’s lives than some others,” Popperson said, pausing to look around at the gathered volunteers. “So looking at this group of people that has so much in common but is also so different from one another and watching us build community out of that difference is just so beautiful. And I see that really flourishing today.”

After an hour, the posters were piled high and a mountain of sandwich bags was loaded onto a cart en route to Boston Commons. Popperson rushed off to lead the 11 a.m. service, and Woodward added one more note before joining her.

“The goal of Pentecost day of service is to think about Pentecost not only as a day of founding the church, but sending the church out into the community to work,” Woodward said. “Part of that work is thinking about how the Holy Spirit is alive within each of us and calling us to work for love in the world. This is just one beautiful manifestation of that.”