I was totally and completely surprised when my daughter came home from her International School here in Germany singing a spiritual. She taught it to her sister and they waved scarfs in some wild liturgical dance that only the Spirit could love.
I will hold back on my own feelings about liturgical dance but I did join in the fun by playing them my very favorite version of the song.
I still don’t really understand why my daughter’s kindergarten teacher was singing this in her classroom. It’s not a religious school and Germany follows the downward trend of countless other places in general interest in anything related to the church.
It gave me space to wonder what the spirit is if it isn’t one of the aspects of the Holy Trinity. Of all of the pieces of the Trinity, it is the Spirit that is hardest to name. It is the most difficult to describe though there are ample metaphors: fire, dove, wind, water, cloud, breath, and oil. There may even be more because the Holy Spirit refuses to be contained. It is the very thing in the Acts of the Apostles that makes people start speaking in tongues.
I know that’s not what my daughter’s kindergarten teacher was attempting to evoke. It definitely wasn’t that but a sense that something should happen. There is something that motivates and compels us. Something more attune to what e.e. cummings meant when he wrote, “Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.”
There is a spirit within us but there is also some spirit outside of us. It is beyond us even for those that have no interest in the Christian faith. We speak of spirit as an energy. It is a presence both within us and outside of us that longs for something to happen. Something needs to happen. In the song, it’s urgent as so many questions are and that is a tension I feel. There is so much need in the world. There are so many terrible things where the Spirit is needed. (I can’t stop myself from making it part of the Trinity. I see that tendency in myself as I type.) Spirit should busy themselves with those matters where flooding, earthquakes, famine, racism, and poverty consume. People dropping bombs on each other right now. Spirit, go there. You are needed to do something. I don’t know what to ask you to do exactly but go there.
It was Mahatma Ghadi who advised, “Prayer is not asking. It is a daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” It is easy to trip over the words but it seems that prayer is not so much about asking God to act but allowing ourselves to be changed. It becomes a question of our willingness to be changed by all that the Spirit does. It makes me question my own receptiveness and so I am sharing this question with you especially as it feels like the world is falling apart again.
As you feel so moved, you might add your thoughts to the new chat, in the comments or hit reply and share with me directly. I welcome your thoughts and ideas but I am more interested in how you share this question with God. I am especially curious about how you find this space creates compassion and hope for the world and her hurting people because I don't think that anyone of us can answer this question. We need each other to share in the wondering.
Take it into your prayer time. Scribble it. Dance with it. Pour a favorite drink into two cups and let this be what keeps you both up way too late wondering about what really matters. Give space for this question and all of the other questions and may God surprise you.
If you are interested in spiritual direction and are interested in a first conversation with me, please reach out or go ahead and book an appointment here. I am currently welcoming new directees and would be delighted to explore the holy threads of this life with you.