Tower and Town, June 2022

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Clergy Letter

Everyone likes receiving gifts. But gifts can be deceptive. We all know that feeling you get when in the supermarket or at the petrol pump or in the newspaper you come across a notice which proclaims: "FREE GIFT". The first reaction might well be of interest as we all like to get something for nothing, but, as likely as not, the second will be one of caution as none of us likes to duped. What's the catch, we wonder.

But there is one kind of gift which has no catches and which we are always ready to receive. It is the gift that expresses love - the gift of a child to its parents, of a friend to a friend, of a husband to his wife or vice versa. It might be argued that even here there are strings attached, but these are strings of the most delightful kind, strings that draw us closer to the one we love.

Sunday, 5th June, in the Christian Calendar, is the celebration of Pentecost. The free gift is the Holy Spirit - the gift promised is the gift of love, for Holy Spirit is the burning love that flows between God the Father and God the Son, and so to receive the Spirit is to have God's own love poured into our hearts, drawing us ever closer to God and to each other.

Because the Holy Spirit is a "free gift", costing us nothing, that we may take the Spirit for granted. As Saint Paul explains, the presence of the Holy Spirit produces a whole variety of gifts, many of them so unspectacular that we hardly notice them, like the gift of being a good listener, the gift of being cheerful even when things are difficult, the gift of being a good and patient parent, the gift of being able to say "Jesus is Lord" when troubled by sickness or hurt. When we open our lives to the Holy Spirit, things begin to happen, lives change, things that seemed impossible become possible: "Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth". (Psalm 103:30). May this prayer echo and re-echo in our hearts, minds, words and actions not only on the 5th June but always.

Father John Blacker

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