Week Three

Ablaze — Pentecost

From the flames of Pentecost, to the fruit and then the gifts of the Holy Spirit!

SEEDS TO SOW: The flames of the Spirit bring heat and light, passion and insight! How do we ensure we don’t just focus on the heat without light, or light instead of the heat?

Read Acts 2: 1-13

Mother tongue.

At Pentecost there was a multi-lingual explosion of communication that quickly spreads as the crowds heard the wonders of God each in their first language!

What difference does it make to hear things in your ‘heart language', in the words you first learnt to speak with?

What experiences have you had in hearing the words of God translated into different languages? Have you heard the Bible in Scots, Gaelic, Welsh, Punjabi, Polish?

Read Galatians 5: 22-26

A recipe for wonder, following the steps...

A recipe is not just a list of ingredients. In order to bring a dish to life there are steps to follow. But a recipe is not a strict line of code, or a construction manual that always follows the exact same sequence. It’s an organic tradition that evolves and adapts to new ingredients and conditions. Keeping in step with the Spirit is a bit like holding on to a beloved family recipe and learning how — with the Spirit’s expert help — to bring it to life with what you’ve got in the fridge.

How are we inspired to ‘serve’ the Fruit of the Spirit today in our local communities?

Read 1 Corinthians 12: 1-11

Rich diverse expression.

Here we read about some of the incredible gifts that the Holy Spirit can switch-on in us. These tender and sensitive, interlocking God-given powers give us new insights and strength to work together to serve and help others, just as Jesus did. Are we aware of when and how God has been working in and through us with any of these gifts?

This list isn’t exhaustive and the Spirit will often bring different gifts to us depending on who is around us. Which of these gifts do you think might be useful in our community just now and why?