Strands of thought based on hymn 393 in Singing the Faith – She Sits Like a Bird – insights into the person of the Holy Spirit
No.3. “She dances in fire, startling her spectators…”
On the second day of our recent holiday we’d booked to go to Houghton Hall in Norfolk. Those who know the garden there often head immediately for an amazing fountain where fire dances on the water.
No doubt scientists could easily explain the physics and talk about oil on water etc. But the people who stand and watch in awe as the thin jet of water rises with fire playing over and on it, dancing as the wind blows, are far more involved in the beauty of this contradiction – fire playing on water and the water playing with it rather than putting it out! The whole thing seems alive and is not only pretty – it’s great fun! It’s not supposed to be like this – it’s against the rules!
When the Apostles received the Holy Spirit after the days of hiding and wondering what to do, perhaps the vision of the tongues of flame dancing round them gave them some inkling of the life which lay ahead – a life of breaking rules and telling everyone about the new rules, the new way of Jesus and his Kingdom. Suddenly it must have made sense! Jesus had promised the “Comforter” would come and he had told them they would be empowered to take the Gospel to all places. Now, with the Holy Spirit, this is what they would do knowing that , whatever might happen to them, the Spirit of God could never be conquered.
We should draw on this assurance for ourselves today. We are called to spread the Gospel where and as God wishes us to, knowing through the Spirit we will be given all the equipment and equipping we need for the job. When hearts are open to God’s calling, nothing will stop the growth of the Kingdom.
“… she weans and inspires all whose hearts are open, nor can she be captured, silenced or restrained.”