This Pentecost as we confess our faith in the power and works of the Holy Spirit, as we celebrate the Holy Trinity, no words better summarize our confession than the words of Ignatius IV, the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church (as adapted by Hugh Eadie):

WITHOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT, God is far away,
Christ stays in the past,
the Gospel is a dead letter,
the Church is simply an organization,
authority a matter of domination,
mission a matter of propaganda,
the liturgical services no more than a reminder of the past,
Christian living a slave morality.

BUT WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, God is with us,
the universe is resurrected
and groans with the birth pangs of the kingdom,
the risen Christ is here,
the Gospel is the power of life,
the Church is the organism, the Body of the living Christ,
authority is service,
mission is Pentecost,
the liturgy is both memorial and anticipation,
human action is God at work in this world.