Holy Spirit Presence

Many people have become alienated with Pentecost as being the feast of the Holy Spirit of God. Many people take a day off to have leisure time or catch up with any work they have fallen behind on. When they hear that God wants to pour His Spirit upon people, they ask themselves, what meaning it would have in their daily lives. Or they don't even ask that any more, because they expect nothing from such an assurance.

However, Pentecost refers to a process of vital importance to our daily lives. People of different language and origin can suddenly understand each other. In accordance with the testimony of the Biblical Pentecost, people could understand each other because they could understand what God did for them and what great things He had in store for them.

Understanding amongst the people – understanding amongst the nations, that is a question of survival for us. It concerns relationships between individuals, between children and parents, between spouses and friends... relationships between nations...

We need to understand each other, if we want to survive. Without understanding people can't live together, work together, play together... Four Italian children, who couldn't speak any German, recently came to my class. Initially, hand and foot signals, copying and imitating proved to do more bad than good. Our everyday use of language makes it clear: We understand each other well, we say and mean much more than mere acoustic communication. We mean harmony, unity, happiness and fulfilling lives.

Christians don't have a patent recipe for happiness. But, they remind themselves of God's promise: I want to pour My Spirit onto all people. A Spiritual Presence of a special kind. A Spiritual Presence who don't hurt others, but tries to understand them.

We all need this Presence. I wish you this Presence at all times.

Gundi Hornbruch