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A Deep Breath

The inspiration of the Holy Spirit

by Brian Radcliffe (revised, originally published in 2011)

Suitable for Whole School (Sec)

Aims

To introduce us to the Christian teaching that the Holy Spirit is at the heart of human imagination.

Preparation and materials

  • You will need a leader and three readers.
  • The coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost is described in the Bible passage Acts 2.1–4.

Assembly

Leader: Where do good ideas come from?

Reader 1: Willis Carrier, the inventor of air conditioning, claims to have thought of the concept as he waited for a train on a foggy night in 1902. It suddenly came to him that there was a relationship between temperature, humidity and the dewpoint (the point at which moist air becomes saturated and forms dew), leading him to develop the air-conditioning system.

Reader 2: Archimedes, the Greek mathematician and inventor, is said to have discovered his famous principle of buoyancy while having a bath. In a moment of inspiration, he realized that there was a correlation between his body in the bath and the water that surrounded it.

Reader 3: J. K. Rowling couldn’t tell you where her ideas for her Harry Potter series came from. She has no idea how her imagination worked so successfully to create such a popular series of novels.

Leader: Ideas pop up at the most unusual times, often when they are least expected and from a source that’s impossible to identify. Some people talk of the power of the imagination, others of inspiration, literally ‘breathing in’ ideas.

Psychologists refer to the banks of memories that we all acquire and the way in which these gradually interlock to produce an apparently new piece of understanding. However, no one can clearly identify the source of good ideas.

Towards the end of this month, Christians celebrate the festival of Pentecost. It’s the time when they remember the coming of the Holy Spirit to the first Christian believers. It was a dramatic event.

(You may wish to read, or ask a student to read, the Bible account in Acts 2.1–4, using a modern translation.)

Gale-force winds were involved, and flickering flames of fire. Most remarkable of all was the fact that it resulted in ordinary men and women being able to do extraordinary things, such as speak in languages they’d never learned, share their money and personal possessions with one another, and bring healing to those in the community who were ill.

Christians believe that the Holy Spirit is God’s presence inside us, that which distinguishes us from all other animals. We could think of it as our creative spark.

The Bible narrative shows that the Spirit has always been at work, from the creation of the world, through the history of the Israelite nation, to the events of the life of Jesus and the Early Church.

In the Bible, the Holy Spirit is often portrayed by means of symbols: these include wind, flames, breath and the form of a dove. Usually, when the Holy Spirit appears, it’s to enable ordinary people to do extraordinary things. That would be part of the answer that a Christian believer would give to my original question: where do good ideas come from?

When we take leaps of imagination and show new levels of creativity or invention, it’s as if we’re acting a little like God.

The Pentecost festival is about Christians believing that even more is possible. Pentecost shows God taking that creativity, imagination and action to new levels.

Time for reflection

The word ‘inspiration’ comes from the Latin for ‘the act of breathing in’. That’s why the image of the Holy Spirit as the breath of God is so helpful. In times when we need a little extra, it’s as easy as breathing in.

Sometimes, it can be good to use fewer words in our prayers, taking time to be silent and allowing God to breathe into us.

Prayer
Dear Lord,
Thank you for the gift of your creative Holy Spirit to each of us.
When we are searching for inspiration in any aspect of our life,
May we take a deep breath and turn to you.
Amen.

Song/music

‘Spirit of God’ by Dave Fournier and George Romanacce, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV5h3Cce1_o (4.16 minutes long)

‘Every breath you take’ by The Police, available at: https://youtu.be/OMOGaugKpzs (3.48 minutes long)

Publication date: May 2021   (Vol.23 No.5)    Published by SPCK, London, UK.
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