Today, I look outside whilst writing this article and the wind is blowing. I see the tree branches dancing in the wind, and I when I step outside I will feel the wind at my back. I am reminded of the power of the Holy Spirit moving in God’s creation, our communities and us as well.

It is comforting to know that no matter our personal circumstance, struggle or discontent, God is here with us, moving and guiding with intent.

At Pentecost Jesus’ followers were filled with the Holy Spirit, empowered, and released on the streets to be flames of light in the world. This would mean going out into communities and declaring and participating in God’s good news. They would restore, renew, cast visions, and reimagine a different way to be as the spirit journeyed with them.

God desires for us to be filled afresh with the Holy Spirit’s energy and power today. I believe God wants us to encounter his loving and forgiving presence, afresh.

Jesus summoned his disciples to go with him beyond their comfort zones, into deeper water, though he never left them alone. Jesus gives us his spirit now, so we too are not alone. The Spirit moves with us, offers courage, strength, energy, and direction if we ask for it. With the spirit we too are empowered to join in with God’s restoration project in our local communities, we too can move for justice and act on hope. Through the Spirit, trust, faith and perseverance, we can do more than we can ever ask and imagine!

A new world was born through Jesus and his spirit. At Pentecost Jesus’ followers were sent out in energy and spirit, to help build a world full of God’s truth, love, justice, and hope. Let us jump too then, with faith, into the new thing that God is doing in our communities, as we seek direction, energy and the Spirits equipping.

After being filled with the Spirit at Pentecost, Jesus’ followers proceeded to share their possessions, to eat together and share life together. Today, so many are isolated and lonely. They proclaimed and lifted up God. They exercised gifts of the spirit like miracles and healings. No one was without. Our lives are not meant to reflect exactly the stories of Acts- we live in a different time and place. Though they do offer us a helpful prompt. Is the Spirit prompting us into more of the above in our own contexts?

Remember, the spirit beckons us to living a new and different life with God. You may feel unsure about how you can really participate, today, in your ordinary lives. Surrender in trust, be patient, and be propelled by the rushing wind of the spirit.

In the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, we are now invited anew to walk forwards boldly and hopefully together, to make a difference in our local communities and this world.

Let us pray together-Holy Spirit, come like a rushing wind!