Bishop Tor B’s Pentecost Message 2022
- Tor Berger Jørgensen
- Jun 5, 2022
- 2 min read
The Spirit of Renewal
Pentecost is a feast for GIFTS. Pentecost 2022 is a feast for celebrating one special gift to the British people – and, indeed, to whole world. We are celebrating our Queen, Her Majesty Elizabeth II. 70 years of service! Quite unexpectedly I was invited to the Thanksgiving service in St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday. What a Service – even if the Queen was not able to attend. She is hailed all over for, her integrity, her credibility, her consistency, trustworthiness – her wisdom, her love for her people. What a gift she has been. What a gift she is – and will be as a model for any serious politician and leader on all levels of our society.
We are often thinking of the Gifts of the Spirit as the extraordinary “spiritual” gifts like visions and speaking in tongues and healings. But Paul is reminding us of what the basic fruits of the Spirit are: “Love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control!” (Gal 5:22-23) And in the Gospel of John, the Spirit is called the SPIRIT OF TRUTH! We are longing for truth in our world today. For peace and justice. For decency and honesty, for responsibility and humility. For love and joy! In our world – and in our lives!
On a day when we are celebrating the coming of the Spirit we are reminded of the biggest gift ever given to us: The story of Jesus Christ. The mystery of God’s love shown in his birth, life, death and resurrection. The Spirit is reminding us that Jesus is still the Way, the Truth and the Life. And the Spirit has the power to renew and deepen our faith, our hope and our love – also when we celebrate Pentecost this special year.
Let us end with a prayer of blessing, as we heard in the Scripture reading on Thanksgiving service on Friday: “May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Through the Holy Spirit!
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