The empowerment of the Spirit is not earned; it is freely given.

And so with the early church at Pentecost. It was not their courage or clarity that evoked the blessing of the Spirit, for they were vulnerable and confused. The Spirit is a gift, not a possession.

The Spirit inspires and gives the breath of life to the church, but the church does not encompass, contain, or own the Holy Spirit. The path of the Spirit certainly does not lead us only from church to church.

For those of us who are Christians, we understand it to be the Holy Spirit that drives us beyond the comforts and certainties of what we know to the very boundaries where Christians and Hindus and Muslims meet.

from Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras