Last week, we celebrated the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost – and our current sermon series is exploring what “Life in the Spirit” is all about. So far, we’ve talked about how the Spirit connects us to the Biblical story and to one another – despite our differences. Last Sunday, I talked about how the Holy Spirit has the power to change us from the inside out.
The Spirit also seeks to guide our lives and decisions – when we are faithful to listen. Below is the full text of Reinhold Niebuhr’s “Serenity Prayer” – which beautifully illustrates the desire to live a life both empowered and directed by the Spirit:
God, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as the pathway to peace. Taking as He did, this sinful world as it is not as I would have it. Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will, that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen.