seeking the spirit

Last Thursday was Ascension Day, the day we remember Jesus bidding farewell to the disciples because he would no longer be with them in person. And this Sunday is Pentecost, the day we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples. So we are in between two movements, two big shifts in the way that God was present to people – first alongside them, in Jesus, and now within them, through the Spirit.

These inbetween days can be a time to get in touch with our own longing for God’s presence and power, and to pray for a renewed experience of the Holy Spirit – in us, in the church and in the world.

We explored this on Sunday evening in a service at our church. We heard about the different images that are use for the Holy Spirit… John the Baptist talks about being baptised with fire. Jesus tells the woman at the well about streams of living water welling up inside us. John’s gospel tells us that on the day he rose, Jesus came to the disciples and breathed on them and said ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’. And on the day of Pentecost the coming of the Spirit was announced with a sound like a mighty wind.

We asked people to think about which image of the Spirit connected most with them: fire, water, breath or wind. And then we all had opportunities to spend time with one of those images.

One group shared in a meditation on breathing – thinking about the breathing of God’s life into us from our beginnings – and the way our breathing changes – what makes our breathing tense and shallow, and what can help our breathing relax and help us open to the presence of God with us and within us.

One group used flame stickers to create 2 pictures of the Holy Spirit, one focussing on the powerful disruption of fire, and the other on the more gentle warmth of a hearth.

One group enjoyed water activities – connecting with thirst and refreshment as they drank a glass of water, dropping a glass bead into a bowl of water and noticing the ripples, playing with water toys in the font, including a little plastic water wheel, noticing how it could turn in a rush or run steadily.

My group thought about the Spirit as the Wind of Change. We heard about a song called ‘Wind of Change’. It was written at the time when the Berlin Wall came down, and it captures the sense of a wind of change blowing, bringing huge changes, with those who were divided now living as brothers. We wrote on clouds places or situations where we long for the wind of change to blow in the world, or in our lives. Then we hung them on a mobile set up in front of a fan, and turned the fan on to maximum and watched them dance.

I wonder which image speaks to you most today – breath, fire, water or wind? 
Why might that be?

Was there anything in the activity station for that image which connected with you?

Spend a few moments holding that image and bringing to God your longing for the Spirit to be at work…

Warm breath of God, 
melting touch of God, 
healing hand of God
Renew our hearts and minds.

Wellspring of life, 
quencher of thirst, 
wide ocean of love
Refresh us with your living water.

Spirit of Justice, 
Spirit of Integrity, 
Spirit of peace 
Blow through our world.

Purifying Spirit, 
Energy of love, 
Eternal light of God   
Transform us with your power.