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Happy Pentecost, everyone! This is when we thank God for and celebrate Him giving Himself as a living Spirit among us all! His Holy Spirit truly provides us with a guide for living a Christian life. This means living Christ-like, which we can always continue to grow in with the Holy Spirit on our side! 
When Jesus breathed His Spirit onto the disciples, it was also the first time where God’s Presence as the Holy Trinity came into being. A few years ago, as I was thinking about this, God taught me something that provided me with a divine comfort; I hope that it does the same for you! Through living in three Beings, but at the same time as one God, He is omnipresent. As the Heavenly Father, He watches over us from above. As the Son, He lives in our hearts. And, as the Spirit, He guides, protects, and advocates for us in the world around us - between and among everything around us, from people, to all other living things, to natural things that happen in this wonderful world He has given us! How AWESOME is that? As somebody who admittedly deals with anxiety, this provides me with such comfort to know that, no matter what, God’s got us! Our God is truly an AWESOME God, as the Song says! I hope that this also provides you with comfort, peace, and a sense of calm.
Many times, when we think about God, we think about the Father and the Son. This is because we can consider those words from a mindset of human beings. It’s harder to understand the concept of a Spirit, though, because the Holy Spirit is not something that we can see. This is why it’s so cool that Pentecost provides us with an opportunity to learn about the Holy Spirit together!
The Holy Spirit is also described as our Godly Advocate. This word can exist as a noun and a verb. As a noun, here is the definition: “a person [entity] who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy.” As a verb, here is the definition: “publicly recommend or support.”
When I thought about this double-meaning of the word advocate, especially in regards to our Advocate in the Holy Spirit, I was able to relate it to things that are going on in our modern world - to see it as a calling for all of us Christians. It is not a secret that there are many things going on in our world that are highly troubling - the public dehumanization of many people (including immigrants, people in groups facing marginalization, etc.), the denial of their basic human rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and hatred and other divisions that are all too common in the global society. What can we do to peacefully counteract this threat, bringing God’s gift of faith, hope, and love to our human family in Christ, and thus serve as an advocate - noun and verb! - to follow our Heavenly Guide of the Holy Spirit? I think that this is a great time for us to ponder about the peaching of John Wesley -
“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”
I love this, and it always gives me inspirational chills when I think about it! What better way to live our lives as Christians!?! We can do this, together!
As we celebrate the AWESOMENESS of our God in this season of Pentecost, we have an opportunity to be an advocate for God, to love ALL of our human family, and share God’s Blessing of Faith, Hope, and Love with everyone we meet. Let’s do this!
As Reverend Dr. Weber of Discipleship Ministries says,
“Is it possible to go overboard on Pentecost? To do too much? Probably, but push the limits where you can. Pull out the stops. Let there be color and light and flame and wind. It could be real; or use images or suggestions—something that points to the world beyond the walls, beyond the horizon we can see. Pentecost is about catching people off guard. It’s about surprise. “Suddenly,” Luke writes, suddenly there was wind and there was fire. Maybe surprise is too much to go for with a group that has been worshiping for years. But how about wonder or joy?
There is something to celebrate on this opening of doors kind of day. There are opportunities being offered when the Spirit shows up.”
Our emblem as a United Methodist Church is Jesus’ cross with the Flame. This Flame represents God’s gift of His Holy Spirit among us. Let’s be a flame and a light for Christ!
Your friend in Christ,   
Joey
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