When Christians meet…their purpose is not—or should not be—to ascertain what is the mind of the majority, but what is the mind of the Holy Spirit—something which may be quite different.

— Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister (1925—)

Pentecost, the day on which we are indwelt by the Spirit, sweeps us up into the dance of the Trinity. We are summoned to the dance floor, [and] the music is grace and love and holiness and peace… The music is supplied by God, and his people are invited to sing and dance along.

Pentecost, my friends, is an invitation to a dance. And it gives us the energy and power to pull it off.

It is an image of the Trinity as a plant, with the Father as a deep root, the Son as the shoot that breaks forth into the world, and the Spirit as that which spreads beauty and fragrance.

— Tertullian, Church Father (c. 155–230)

As our plane ascended out of San Antonio, it passed an enclave of mansions. These homes had to contain at least seven to ten thousand square feet of space, with immaculate lawns and gardens, large pools, and huge garages. But from two thousand feet in the air, it's amazing how small these homes looked. Another few thousand feet, and they became mere playhouses.

And then it hit me: not a home on this ...

In a 2007 edition of Newsweek magazine, author and radio personality Garrison Keillor was asked to choose what he considered to be the five most important books. Some readers were probably surprised to find that he ranked the Book of Acts at the top of his list. When describing the Book of Acts, Keillor offered this concise but potent summation: "The flames lit on their little heads and bravely and ...

One of the more humorous quirks of scientific history is the debate over who should get the credit for discovering oxygen. Joseph Priestley, an English scientist and clergyman, is often given that honor because he was the first to publish his findings, doing so in 1774. Interestingly, Priestley originally called the gas, "dephlogisticated air."

However, in 1772, two years prior to Priestly's find, ...

To be filled with the Holy Spirit means that we allow him to occupy and control every area of our lives…How much of you does the Holy Spirit have?

When teaching this to my seminary students, I bring two glasses of water and two packets of Alka-Seltzer to class. I drop a packet of Alka-Seltzer, with the wrapper on, into one glass. Then I plop an unsealed packet into the second glass, and watch it fill ...

In her memoirs, Ilyasah Shabazz, the third daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz, talks about the effect of attending church as a little girl:

Betty Shabazz took the girls to the mosque every Sunday, and when they were visiting their grandparents in Philadelphia, they went to Friendship Baptist, a church Ilyasah says she loved, especially the praying and testifying and the singing of gospel music. ...

"Auntie" Sarah Cooke: Her prayers changed Moody's ministry

"Few persons in Chicago were better known in certain religious circles than she, for she was continuously going to the missions, street meetings, conventions, camps, conferences, lectures and every kind of religious gathering within her reach. She was the living personification of aggressive evangelism, instant in season and out of season, ...

A do-gooder is a person trying to live beyond his spiritual income.