The Holy Spirit: Distinct and Alive
There was a distinct time mid-1980 where I was involved with the Catholic Charismatic movement (Catholic Charismatic Church). My home church (Anglican) with lights out sat across from where assembled a Wednesday night Catholic prayer group. Their Christian cousin’s bright church hall welcomed nigh onto a hundred worshipers every week, more than the entire Anglican congregation on a Sunday morning.
New to the city and with a longing for social and spiritual connections it was a welcome surprise to discover young adults participating in the prayer group. Warmly embraced from the start my worry and uncertainty eased knowing I would not have to go it alone in this new beginning.
It was a unique time where I felt the Holy Spirit distinct and alive among this group of people.
The Holy Spirit: A Distinct Earthy Prayer Form
Not all those feelings were comfortable. Interaction with God’s life force doesn’t necessarily mean a warm and snuggly sense of being wrapped in a protective blanket. It can feel gritty, confusing, and risky. That’s why the caution in the last blog The Holy Spirit: Another Helper: to prepare mind and heart before asking the Holy Spirit to bring God alive in a life.
Discomfort is physical and otherwise.
After attending the prayer group on occasion I took part in the prayer room. This happened separately in the churches’ sanctuary where people came for personal prayer. Small groups would lightly place hands on the one seeking prayer–on head, shoulder, upper back or arms. Sometimes the seeker would share their prayer intent but sometimes not, we prayed nonetheless.
What may or may not have happened when praying in this way I cannot say. It was a long time ago, but I remember the heat. It was distinctly uncomfortable. After a few minutes with hands growing warmer and perspiration forming on my brow, a desperate hope would surface for my deodorant to hold. It was an intense concentration of energy exchange, acutely physical and displacing any idea of being engaged in a holy or spiritual experience. It is an earthy, sweaty prayer form.
The Holy Spirit: Not Just Distinct Physically
The discomfort wasn’t only physical. My unease was distinct but overridden by curiosity about the other spiritual happenings within the prayer group. God’s Holy Spirit challenged my conservative upbringing. A childhood laced with subtle British influences had inculcated a distrust of hyper-emotionalism that often muted or diluted expressions of passion, joy and wonder.
But although the prayer group was freer than a typical Anglican Sunday service with allocated periods for hand rising and spontaneous worship, there was no rolling in the aisle theatrics attributed to evangelical churches. Spanning modes of prayerful expression this Catholic group masterfully bridged a middle ground in allowing the Holy Spirit to flow.
I began to raise my hands half way.
The Holy Spirit: A Distinct Challenge
My experiences of the Holy Spirit often seem ordinary–gritty, real, and sometimes even sweaty–even when an event is extraordinary. God never pushes me to betray or abandon my emotional framework. If he did would I trust him?
Within my capacity, though, he challenges me to expand that framework–to trust more–to test new ground, risk new experiences, and embrace distinct expressions of God the Holy Spirit. And why? Because there is so much more (1 Corinthians 12: 3-11).
The Holy Spirit displays God’s power through each of us as a means of helping the entire church. 1 Cor. 12:7 (TLB)
To be continued…