"You will receive power ..." (Acts 1:8). Here was a ragtag bunch of people with no power, no position, no influence, no clout, being given the promise of their risen Lord that things were about to change for them. Not in the way that they might have wished, to be sure. After all, the power they were about to get was not political (even though that is what they wanted) — there was no promise of an earthly kingdom. Just divine power. And we celebrate the coming of that power every year on Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit came on that little band of believers in a unique way and sent them off on a mission that changed the world.

Most of us who come from the mainline tradition will freely admit that the church cannot live without the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, but in our heart o…