Pentecost - power to change!

This pentecost I have been challenged, once again, that the purpose of faith is to love God, and the purpose of religion is to serve God's will of transforming the world.

This quote from Karl Barth was quite challenging in that regard:

"The Holy Spirit establishes the righteousness of heaven in the midst of the unrighteousness of the earth and will not stop or stay until all that is dead has been brought to life and a new world has come into being." - Karl Barth, from his book The Word of God and the Word of Man

As an undergraduate in Theology at Rhodes University our Systematic Theology Professor (Brian Gaybba, an expert in pneumatology who wrote the book The Spirit of Love) would pray the following liturgical prayer at the start of each lecture:

V - Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful.

R - And kindle in them the fire of your love.

V - Send forth your spirit, Lord, and they shall be created.

R - And thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray,

O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of your faithful; grant that in the same Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in his consolation. Through the same Christ, our Lord. Amen.

This prayer has often been a source of encouragement and strength when facing challenging tasks and difficult people.  So, today I want to encourage you that we have a task, the task is transformation.  It is a difficult task, but we do not face it alone.  God empowers us by His Spirit, the Spirit of Life, truth and love.

When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.

- Acts 4:31

Let us be filled with God's Spirit that we may have joy in proclaiming God's loving word with boldness.