From the Deacon’s Bench - Pentecost 2026
By Canon Ken Brooks

One of my favourite authors, Sister Joan Chittister, wrote this prayer for Pentecost:
May the Gifts of the Holy Spirit
bring fire to the earth
so that the presence of God
may be seen
in a new light,
in new places,
in new ways.
May our own hearts
burst into flame
so that no obstacle,
no matter how great,
ever obstructs the message
of the God within each of us.
May we come to trust
the Word of God in our heart,
to speak it with courage,
to follow it faithfully
and to fan it to flame in others.
May the Jesus
who filled women
with his Holy Spirit
fill the world and the church
with new respect
for women’s power and presence.
Give me, Great God,
a sense of the Breath of Spirit
within me.
Amen

When the spirit came into the room with the disciples, it must have been a site of hope and courage. It must have been a motivating moment, and a time when they could throw off their previous doubts and fears. Let us hope that we can encounter those moments with the Spirit when we endorse hope and courage and take the love of God to those around us.
Canon Ken Brooks, Deacon