Come, Holy Ghost

The Pentecost window at Duke Divinity School.

Back in the 1700s, Charles Wesley wrote thousands of hymns for the early Methodists, some of which we’re still singing three hundred years later, like “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” and “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.” One of his less well-known hymns is “Come, Holy Ghost, Our Hearts Inspire.” It was written to be sung before the reading of scripture in worship, but it also makes a great text to ponder around Pentecost.

One of my favorite verses is:

Expand thy wing, celestial Dove,

brood o’er our nature’s night;

on our disordered spirits move,

and let there now be light.

Wesley’s bringing together the image of the Holy Spirit appearing like a dove at Jesus’s baptism and the creation scene in Genesis 1. In the very first words in the Bible, Genesis says,

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

The Spirit, it says, was “hovering over” the waters, the way a bird hovers over its young (see Deut 32:11) or broods over a clutch of eggs. God’s Spirit was incubating new life out of this formless, empty world. But in the hymn, it’s not the earth that’s dark and empty: it’s your and my nature, our spirits. Wesley combines the bird-terminology in Genesis with the dove in the gospels, and asks the Holy Spirit to work in our lives like the Spirit worked at the beginning of the world. Brood over us, incubating new life in us. Start creating in us, heavenly Dove, speak to the dark places in our hearts: “Let there be light!”

The song calls on the Holy Spirit to recreate our hearts and lives, to make us new. When you sing it, you’re praying that Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 5 will be fulfilled: “if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.” (5:17) Genesis 1 all over again, but in your life.

Everybody faces that darkness somehow.

Maybe you’re plagued by attitudes and feelings that smother your faith and your hope: anxiety over your finances, as that bank balance hovers around zero; depression brought on by a death, an empty nest, a lost job, or your own brain chemicals; bitterness from the divorce, or over all the years and hard work that haven’t brought the life you expected.

Or you’re caught in some bad habits—constantly, automatically hitting that “Buy Now” button on Amazon; the “innocent” flirtations with a married co-worker; those knee-jerk criticisms that your child, your spouse, or your employee won’t ever forget; time hidden away gorging your eyes and mind with pornography.

And you want to be made new. You want God to “create in me a clean heart… and renew a right spirit within me.” (Ps 51:10) You want to be a new creation.

So, invite the Holy Spirit to come in and make something new in your life. Invite the Spirit to “let there be light” in the dark in your heart and your head. Make time when the Spirit has your attention and you’re open to challenges and change. And make that your prayer: “Come, Holy Ghost, my heart inspire. Expand your wing, celestial Dove, brood over my nature’s night. On my disordered spirit move, and let there now be light.”

 Listen to this week's devotional right here: