Questions 5 & 6

5. What is your conception of the activity of the Holy Spirit in personal faith, in the community of believers, and in responsible living in the world?
In the Gospel of John, Jesus talks with the disciples about how the Father will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to teach and to remind us of all that Christ taught while he was here on earth. When I look at my life, I depend on the Holy Spirit to guide me in all that I do. The Holy Spirit reminds me that I am a child of God and helps me to envision the purpose God has for me in my life. The Spirit gives me comfort, encouragement and challenges me in my daily walk as a Christian finding ways to teach me to live and love as Christ did.
The Holy Spirit is active in the life of the community of believers when they discover how God is calling that community to respond to the needs of the world around them. Currently at Grace UMC, we are in a period of discernment as we look at the possibility of purchasing adjacent land in order to expand our ministry in west Sherman. The congregation is currently seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit to see if this will help us fulfill the mission that God has for us. We are also depending on the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we look toward new and exciting ministries in the church reaching out to young adults and college students providing a place in which they can come and develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Living in a sinful and broken world, the Holy Spirit also guides us as we look to see where we, as the church, need to stand for those who need a voice. It could be a call to help those who are in need of adequate health care, taking a stance about injustices in the far corners of the world, providing clean water, setting up mosquito netting to fight the spread of malaria, or even assistance when a natural disaster occurs in our own country or abroad.

6. What is your understanding of the kingdom of God; the Resurrection; eternal life?
The church is called to be the place where we see visible signs of God’s kingdom here on earth. As Christians, we are called to bring restoration and wholeness to a broken world. As the church interacts with our sinful and broken world, we are to work with each other under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to bring restoration to God’s world.
In the process of bringing God’s kingdom to our world, we must realize that we have been placed here on earth to be stewards of God’s creation and we are called to take care of God’s kingdom. There are ways that we, with the help of the Holy Spirit, can work to bring the kingdom of God to earth. We can do this by being attentive to the world around us listening and helping those who are in need. As we work to bring God’s kingdom closer here on earth, we know that God’s kingdom will not be complete until Christ returns in glory at the end of the age.
The Resurrection brings our salvation to completion. It is the work of Jesus Christ who rose from the dead, and establishes the way for humankind to be connected to God. The Resurrection makes that which is shattered whole. The Resurrection is the event that Christians we should celebrate every day that we have breath. Paul writes in Romans that as we have died in Christ, we share in the resurrection of Christ. Therefore we should not live in our sin anymore, [1] but we need to live in celebration for what Christ has done for us and then share that Good News with the world so that all people will know Christ’s love for them.
We have moments where we experience Christ’s resurrection within us. We celebrate when we have resurrection from our sin that have driven us farther from God or our neighbors. We celebrate when we see broken relationships that have been resurrected and made whole.
In John 10:10 Jesus says that he comes to give life so that we may have life abundantly. Eternal life is the hope we have as Christians to live life abundantly in relationship with God. In Scripture, we find references to eternal life as Jesus says that “whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God's wrath.”[2] When we decide to strive for this eternal life, we must die to ourselves daily and serve God, with all our heart, mind and soul. When we do this, we begin to experience eternal life and hold onto the promise that we will experience in fullness one day when we join Christ in eternity.
[1] Romans 6:1-11
[2] John 3:36 NRSV