Notes from a Sojourn
May 27, 2020
“Come, Holy Spirit, counsellor,
and touch our lips that we
may proclaim your word.”
When we encounter the word for spirit in the Bible, we are reading a translation of the Hebrew word "rhuah" or the Greek word "pneuma". Both words are almost onomatopoeic and could be literally translated as breath.
The idea that a word might sound like its meaning is interesting to me. It makes me wonder what praying for the Holy Spirit to touch my lips could mean.
Maybe allowing the Holy Spirit, the Life Breath of God, to be joined with my own breath could actually influence the sound and meaning of my words. In this spiritual sense, skill is not nearly as important to our message as our own openness to being influenced by God's presence within us.
As I attempt to speak with compassion, truth, boldness, and conviction, I pray that my lips might be touched by the Holy Spirit, that God's Life Breath may be joined with my own in speaking God's word, and that my life may take on the character and resemblance of that which gives it meaning.
Come, Holy Spirit, come.
Patrick+
