What a splendid Pentecost
Sunday! The sun shone all day, and we were pleased to welcome our preacher for
the morning service, the Revd Barry Hill, Diocesan Mission Enabler, and his
family to our church. Our prayers that the Holy Spirit would ensure that our
service was truly memorable were answered. And in the evening, we had the
musical delight of the joint choirs and their friends singing ‘Saints’ Alive!’
by Roger Jones. A truly uplifting day and thanks to all who contributed to
making it so.
During the morning service we
distributed the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit among members of the congregation. The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are
wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the
Lord (Isaiah 11:2). The 7 gifts are to be
distinguished from the ‘fruits’ of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23: these
are ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness,
and self-control’. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are
interior qualities, the fruits of the Holy Spirit are external signs of the
workings of the Spirit.
