Spirit of Power, Love, & Self-discipline

II Timothy 1:5-7

I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

Lord,
this Sunday the church
celebrates the gift of your Holy Spirit.

Remind us again,
just as Paul reminded Timothy,
Your Holy Spirit is
a Spirit of Power,
a Spirit of Love,
a Spirit of Self-discipline.

Sometimes we act out of
a spirit of defeat,
a spirit of hate,
a spirit of self-indulgence.

More often I see
a spirit of fear,
a spirit of meanness,
a spirit of apathy,
a spirit of self-interest.

O Spirit of Pentecost,
Rekindle your gifts within us;
Fan the flame of faith;
Stoke the fire to servanthood;
Throw another log on for loving God & loving others;
Pump the billows till we aglow for you;
BURN HOT refining and purifying us.
Come, O Spirit, Come!
Amen.