Fr Robert Hendrickson

Dear Friends in Christ,

I wonder if you’ve ever had a Holy Spirit moment? Or maybe you’ve had one that you’ve not quite seen as such?

I was in conversation with a very stodgy, learned professor of mine. He had grown up in the British Raj as the son of American diplomats. He carried himself as such and was not one that you’d expect to be given to any kind of Holy Spirit inspired rapture.

He was talking about time he had spent with Pentecostal missionaries in Africa where he had spent much time in later life. He was relating the ecstatic nature of their worship and fellowship. He talked of them speaking in tongues and singing into the late hours of the night.

Someone asked him, rather impishly, “Father, have you ever been slain in the Spirit and spoken in tongues?” Obviously the question was asked to get a bit of a chuckle.

He looked slightly wistful then answered, “Oh no, but I so dearly wish I had.”

He spoke of a deep longing to find the kind of faith and hope his Pentecostal friends had. They lived under the threat of violence and persecution and yet they sang and prayed and hoped with fervent longing. He longed for that kind of faith and that kind of experience of the movement of the Spirit in and through him.

I’ve not had such an experience either. I’ve been in places where others were and it was both a bit strange to me but also moving. It was with a predominantly African American, poor Delta church in Mississippi. I knew many of these folks. Some didn’t have doors in their homes. All had known poverty, discrimination, and all the trials of life.

Yet they sang. They sang with hope and joy and eagerness for the coming of Christ. They sang with the Holy Spirit.

I’ve not had such an experience but I so dearly hope I will.

Yours in Christ,

Fr Robert