Time may have been dragging a bit for you during lockdown, but we're already at Pentecost, this Sunday. It's time to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Unlike deadly viruses, the Holy Spirit brings life and joy and health... and waits to be invited into our hearts and lives. Its 'R' number (reproduction rate) is staggeringly high, as the good news of Jesus Christ is enthusiastically shared far and wide. The Holy Spirit is powerful but invisible. The Book of Acts finds it hard to fully describe the coming of the Spirit to the followers of Jesus in Jerusalem at the first Christian Pentecost. It's like the sound of a mighty rushing wind and like tongues of flame. But, not exactly.
Ultimately, like the wind, you can't see the Holy Spirit directly, you can only experience its effects. For the first Christians there was no mistaking that they had been affected by, and transformed by, a powerful force for good! You could see it in their lives, in the gifts and the fruit of the Spirit that they showed.
This week I want to share with you a special video presentation on the Fruit of the Spirit, originally produced last summer for an innovative service at Carshalton. The service was called 'Worshipping with Photos' and during it we used photos taken by members of the congregation, projected onto the large community-cinema screen in the Ruskin Hall. The idea was to have lots to engage our sight, as well as our hearing, to give an extra dimension to our service. We live in a very visual culture and this was one way of making our worship more accessible. Nearly a year on, we needed to replace some of the photos in the video, now it will be having a wider airing, so you will notice that a few of the images have been taken during lockdown, with proper social distancing, of course. The video has a beautiful accompaniment on the saxophone by Vijendran from Wallington church.
I hope you enjoy viewing this short video, as we celebrate, on Pentecost Sunday, the coming of the Spirit, with nine-a-day fruits, not just five-a-day! If you like it, why not share it with your friends...
Sorry, if the video is not displaying properly on mobile devices. We have been trying to fix this. For the time being, try enabling your phone's 'auto rotate' function and then turn your phone so that the video fits the screen - on Android, go to Settings/Accessibility/& switch on Auto-rotate screen.
Thank you for a lovely, thoughtful video. I found it very calming in this period of uncertainty. Lovely to see some familiar photos from last year, but appreciate the new ones.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely and reflective presentation. It can be watched again and again. Thanks for all the hard work involved in the making of this. Tony
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