Letter From Kevin Keefe – Churchwarden of Otley Parish Church
Most people like springtime with more daylight, and things warming up a bit. Also, plants and trees coming into flower, birds nesting and signs of new life all around us. We worship the God who made everything as we marvel at the awesome handiwork of his creation which surrounds us.
In recent months we have celebrated Christmas – Christ’s birth in human form – and Easter -Christ’s death for us on the cross, his victory over death and his rising to new life. It’s right that we celebrate these special festivals that mark the key moments in what we believe, and cause us to remember again the great sacrifice that Jesus made for us all. Each of us hearing this good news message has the opportunity to invite Jesus into our lives as our personal Saviour and to live in his presence in the eternal Kingdom of God. How amazing is that?
But, as if that’s not enough, of course it doesn’t end there. For while we exist in God’s presence now, we won’t enter the fullness of God’s heavenly Kingdom until Jesus comes again. Then there will be a new heaven and a new earth and the cares, worries and pains of this world will be gone as we move into the full presence of God (Revelation 21:1-4).
In a few more weeks we shall be celebrating Pentecost when, as Jesus promised (John 14:26), God sent his Holy Spirit to empower his followers:
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place… They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit…” (Acts 2). And even more than this, Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would be with us forever (John14:16).
So while we are in this interim period between the first and second coming of Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit to guide and empower us through the storms and troubles of life. He enters our hearts when we invite Jesus in to be our personal Saviour. Over time, however, the things of this world can gradually crowd in on us and push God’s Spirit into the background and we can find that we suddenly arrive at Pentecost again and we are talking about Holy Spirit things. But the Holy Spirit is for the whole of life, for now, for today. We don’t have to wait for the once-a-year celebration to revisit the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives; we can ask Him in to refill, refresh and renew us now.
Throughout this last year or so, Aaron Kennedy has led us through a course of studies looking at how we can experience the transformative power of Jesus Christ through developing intentional habits and spiritual disciplines – creating a personal rule of life. For many members of Otley Parish Church this will be something already aspired to for many years – parts of what we have been studying will have become second nature. But hopefully, we have all been given much to think about and put into practice as we try to deepen our relationship with God and walk more closely with Him – giving greater opportunity to hear what He has to say to us and His response to the concerns of our hearts. We want to grow in us the fruits of the Spirit and receive the gifts of the Spirit so that we can be a blessing to others, helping minister towards healing and wholeness, seeking life in all its fullness in the now and not yet, arousing interest and spreading Light in the darkness.
So, we aspire to each to be changed as much as those gathered at that first Pentecost, so that we can indeed, like them, “arise as Christ’s church in the power of the Holy Spirit”.