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Dear Friends,

This year the month of May is bookended by two
different celebrations.

At the beginning of the month, we celebrate the
Coronation of King Charles III. This is, of course, not
something that everyone sees as an event to celebrate, for there
are many people within our society who find the idea of monarchy
difficult, to say the least. Yet, at the same time, there are many who
both value and revere the institution, and there are still others who
are grateful for the fact that the monarchy prevents us from having
certain individuals being elected as president.

Thus it is that, somehow, as a nation, we hold all of these views,
and more beside, alongside one another. And we do so, in large
part, with respect and generosity.

Then, at the end of the month, we will celebrate the festival of
Pentecost, remembering how the Holy Spirit came to the believers
in the Upper Room and began to change how they viewed the
world. And once again, this is not something that everyone regards
as an occasion to celebrate. For those outside of the Christian faith
Pentecost can be seen as either just a sweet story, or, from a
particular perspective, as the beginnings of how Christianity has
sought to dominate the world.

Consequently, we have to live and work within that tension. How do
we hear and respond to the call of God to share the Good News,
and to share God’s love and grace, empowered and encouraged by
the Holy Spirit, while also recognising that there are some people
who do not want to hear?

We need to listen to the whispers of the Holy Spirit as we seek to
carry out the work that God calls us to. And we need to learn how

HOLY SPIRIT

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