AS I write, we are still in the Easter season, which will end on June 8 when we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, 50 days after we celebrated Easter Day.

Pentecost originated in the Jewish calendar as the festival of the grain harvest. It was celebrated 50 days after the first of the grain was harvested. Later it also celebrated the giving of the law on Sinai.

Forty days after his resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven. He told his disciples to wait for the Spirit who would come to them. It came at Pentecost in the form of wind and what appeared like tongues of fire.

The gift given made those who were still hiding, for fear of the Jewish leaders, into people who were bold and went out to declare the good news (gospel) about Jesus.

As we read through the book of the Acts of the Apostles, we see the Holy Spirit given not just to Jews, but increasingly to non-Jews (Gentiles), to the surprise of the Jerusalem church.

St Paul wrote various letters to the Gentile churches to encourage them and his first letter to the Corinthians lists some of the gifts that God gives to build up the church. He compares it to a human body where all the members work together to benefit each other. So, with the church, he says all have something to offer. If we work together, we will bear fruit.

Paul lists those fruits of the Spirit in his letter to the Galatians: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self -control. We are in a world which needs the gifts God has given us to serve him and others which will bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. Let us nurture them by God’s grace.

Canon Malcolm Bowers