Thought for the Week – be filled with enthusiasm.

‘Nothing great was every achieved without enthusiasm’, according to Ralph Waldo Emerson

At one time enthusiasm was a religious term but not any more. Now one can be enthusiastic about almost anything from water skiing to good food, without religion entering it at all.

At Pentecost the followers of Jesus were filled with enthusiasm – the word comes from the Greek ‘en theos’, God within.

They were filled with the spirit, the life giving breath of creation – and they were transformed from being terrified people into people of enthusiasm and commitment.

Christian theology and popular devotion have neglected the spirit’s crucial role in the world – kept it off stage. And yet the spirit was promised to all and belongs primarily to our world and not to any church and religion. It is defined most by its movement – it blows where it wills.

The truth is that this life giving spirit is available to us all. What we need to do is tune into its promptings and be prepared to follow its nudges and so be filled with enthusiasm.