Dear Friends,
This week Elizabeth shared with the staff this photograph of the so called
‘Holy Ghost Orchid’. Yes, it really is a flower, originally from Central America!
On this Pentecost weekend, when we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit granted to the young, fledging church 50 days after Christ’s resurrection
we rejoice that the God who must have had great fun creating this flower,
also delights to grant his people the dove of his very own presence, power
and peace.
Although many millennium before Pentecost, the book of Genesis begins with the Spirit of God hovering over the deep at creation and ends with Joseph, the right hand ‘saviour of the world’, filled with God’s Spirit and perfectly equipped for the challenges, hardships, temptations, trials and opportunities which rested upon his shoulders.
Although none of us expected celebrating Pentecost this year under lockdown, remember the church has not shut down! The church is not closed. Our buildings may be, but the church, God’s people, empowered and enabled by His Holy Spirit is more free than ever to spread the love, beauty and fragrance of Jesus Christ across the length and breath of our land and globe.
May this hymn (below) by Townend and Getty be our prayer this weekend.
In God’s power and great love, Frank
Holy Spirit living breath of God
Breathe new life into my willing soul
Let the presence of the risen Lord
Come renew my heart and make me whole
Cause Your Word to come alive in me
Give me faith for what I cannot see
Give me passion for Your purity
Holy Spirit breathe new life in me
Holy Spirit come abide within
May Your joy be seen in all I do
Love enough to cover every sin
In each thought and deed and attitude
Kindness to the greatest and the least
Gentleness that sows the path of peace
Turn my strivings into works of grace
Breath of God show Christ in all I do
Holy Spirit from creation’s birth
Giving life to all that God has made
Show Your power once again on earth
Cause Your church to hunger for your ways
Let the fragrance of our prayers arise
Lead us on the road of sacrifice
That in unity the face of Christ
May be clear for all the world to see