Come Holy Spirit come.
Come as Holy fire and burn in us.
Come as Holy light and lead us.
Come as Holy truth and teach us.
Convict us, convert us, consecrate us and
Make us wholly thine.
You may have heard me offer this prayer. I use it frequently before worship, meetings, presentations and gatherings. A mentor, Joel Keys, offered this prior to worship at St. Thomas in Diamondhead. I heard it a couple times and quickly committed it to memory. It is actually a shortened version of a longer prayer from an anonymous source. The words, to me, are so familiar that they’re comforting but more than comforting they are empowering. Empowering because this invocation is us, God’s people, reaching out to the Holy Spirit and asking the Spirit of God to set our souls on fire! We don’t often reach out to the 3rd person of the Trinity but perhaps we should.
It’s really difficult to articulate how we experience the Holy Spirit (or Ghost). I suspect that all of us have different ways of attempting to explain its presence to newcomers, friends, children or parishioners. The Holy Spirit is indeed a Holy mystery. Maybe when we seek to understand or explain the Holy Spirit we should simply refer to the words of this prayer and see the Holy Spirit as a fire that burns in our souls, while providing light and truth for our journey of faith.
As I continue making visits to the missions and parishes of the Episcopal Church in Mississippi you will hear me offer this prayer over and over. Feel free to offer or use these words in your personal prayer life or when asked to pray before a meeting or even a meal. The Spirit of our Lord is indeed with us but it never hurts to invite that same Spirit to guide us into mission and ministry while making us “wholly thine.” My continued prayer is that our souls will be set on fire for doing God’s work in our families, missions, parishes, cities, state, country and world!
Peace be with you!
+Brian
I remember your reciting that prayer after your election. It is very fitting.