Dear Friends,

As I think about the challenging times and the “signs of the times” in which we live, I have been doing some looking back into years of my own life, to other challenging times and other “signs of the times.” Growing up in West Los Angeles in the 60’s and 70’s I saw some things: the Watts Riots, the years of Vietnam War protests, the hippie movement with its sit ins and “love ins”, and the “oil crises” and years of double-digit inflation. You probably have your own memories of those challenging times and the signs and symbols that marked those times.

One of the theme songs of those years of civil rights movements and war protests was a song composed by Burt Bacharach that may seem a little sentimental with hindsight, but which rang honest and true as it was sung from the hearts of vocalist like Jackie DeShannon and later, Dionne Warwick: “What the world needs now is love.” It's the only thing that there's just too little of. What the world needs now is love, sweet love, No not just for some, but for everyone.

This Sunday we celebrate Pentecost, the day that the gift of the Holy Spirit, the very love and life force of God, was given to the followers of Jesus; it's the same fiery Spirit that animated his own life and ministry. And it was this overwhelming, immediate, intimate power of love that gave the first Christians what they needed to persevere as they faced the “signs” of their own times in the shadows of an oppressive Roman Empire in which poverty and inequality and hardship abounded. This was a world in need of love, not just for some, but for everyone.

I would like to share with you a reflection by Pastor Stephen Garnaas-Holmes on the Pentecostal, energetic, fiery love of God - the "love, sweet love" that the world needs now, more than ever.

God is not a guy out there somewhere,

not a thing, but energy, the energy of love,

the love that makes being be,

not a being, but being itself, “I AM.” I BE, being.

God is an act.

An act of love, since that's what love is:

not a feeling, but an act,

even if it's an invisible act of regard.

When you love someone, even poorly,

God is.

The more you love

the more God you make happen.

This is the mystery of the Holy Spirit,

that it is given to us to make real.

The fire burns in us, even when we don't know it.

What the world needs now is love,

Amelie+