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We need your renewal: Come, Holy Spirit!

Martin Adhikary
ON Pentecost Sunday Christians celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the first disciples of Christ living in despair two thousand years ago. Pentecost is one of the five great Christian festivals: Christmas, Good Friday, Resurrection, Ascension and the Pentecost. The theme of the work of the Holy Spirit of God runs throughout the Bible testifying to all the works of God and the renewal of lives, and brings hope for all people of goodwill in a situation of hopelessness and despair. So Pentecost has great Christological, experiential and humanitarian significance. It brings hope and strength of new life to people.
The Bible, as a whole, depicts the works of the Holy Spirit as opposed to those of the fleshly or carnal mind. We see this clearly mentioned in the Epistle to the Galatians. Two millennia ago Paul wrote to them: "The works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentious-
ness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissention, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing and the like. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, selfcontrol...” (New Testament: Galatians 5:19, 22).
The Holy Spirit will come to dwell in our hearts and empower us when we acknowledge our weakness in our fight against the desires of the flesh and all our sinfulness.
We live in a sin-sick world! We sin against God as we sin against other people. We live in a world today which is full of inhuman activities. There are always sins against people
who are weak and who are innocent, and against women, children, and the have-nots. They are sins committed by those in authority and those who have power. Instead of serving the people they crush them, they create an environment where one cannot live with honour and dignity. The Holy Spirit guides us towards the welfare of our total personality: body, mind and soul. It is the Spirit of God that which enables us to live life worthy of the crown of creation, a truly human life. So the Holy Spirit is the transforming agent of God for his creation.
All people have the urgent need to repent for their failures, and trust in the Holy Spirit so that they overcome the devil. There is always the constant need for renewal of our minds, thoughts and our whole beings. We need to receive spiritual illumination for understanding the Word and Will of God and the inspiration from the Holy Spirit for us to be vehicle of God's grace for other people, serving and caring for them.
The human
race is facing too many problems. The dilemma and the problems that the world is in is a spiritual one. So the solution has to be spiritual. This is true for all human beings, who are trapped sin. Let our prayers today be that the transcendental gift of the Holy Spirit continues to renew our lives that we may be effective in the renewal and healing, peace and reconciliation that our world cries out for. Let this prayer be for all people irrespective of any religious affiliation for we celebrate life in God's Spirit, which is for the renewal all of his creation.
The writer is Principal, College of Christian Theology, Bangladesh, and a social worker.