The Holy Spirit Brings Us Together

John 16: 12 - 15

Of the three persons of God, the Holy Spirit is the hardest for us to see.

We see the handiwork of God the Father all around us every day in the wonders of his creation.

We see and hear Jesus live his ordinary and extraordinary life in the Gospels.

But the Holy Spirit comes into our bodies as we breathe, rushes past like the wind, flies away like a dove.

The Holy Spirit calls us.

The Holy Spirit gives us wisdom, strength, and courage.

And the Holy Spirit gives us both vocational gifts and those qualities that we call the fruit of the Spirit.

But most of all, the Holy Spirit builds the community of Christians, appearing to us most often when we are gathered together in worship.

Jesus promised that he would send us a Comforter to be with us after he was gone from the earth. And that Spirit appeared when the apostles were gathered together on the day of Pentecost and has remained with us ever since.

Since the Spirit comes most often when we are gathered together, we frequently miss out on his gifts and wisdom when we choose to undertake our spiritual journeys on our own.

The Holy Spirit's greatest gift to us is community, the communion of saints, where we can help one another recognize our gifts and where we can encourage one another's growth in grace and holiness.

Through his presence he sanctifies us and makes us holy as we praise the holiest of the holy and glorify God in worship.