What Does the Holy Spirit Feel Like?

How often do you find yourself in a sanctuary of progressive Christians all sharing about their personal experiences of the Holy Spirit? Until this past year in ministry with Juniper Formation, it wasn’t too often for me. In progressive, “mainline” Christian circles we can sometimes be too deeply intellectual and too disconnected from our bodies to be comfortable speaking about mystical experiences—or communion with God. Perhaps we consider this corner of the Church market already covered by our Pentecostal Church siblings. But it is a mistake to assume that any one denomination has rights to a particular part of Christian belief, tradition, and spiritual practice. Especially when the wider Church is in such desperate need of relationship with the Holy Spirit. 

Begin with Relational Discernment

We always start with relational discernment. We are created in God’s image, are imbued with the abiding Holy Spirit, and the primary messages of the Gospel center around our responsibility to be in loving relationship to God and one another. Therefore, we discern within relationship to one another and God. As a former professor, I prioritize Popular and Critical education teaching and learning methods. These methods emphasize a more democratic approach, with the understanding that the wisdom is already in the room and we do not need to exclusively rely on outside experts, as well as, an understanding that there are always power structures at play and to be critical of their purpose and influence as we seek more equitable and just collective learning and teaching. This translates into a church setting with the understanding that we bring a diversity of spiritual and life experiences, scriptural interpretations, and ministry expertise. We have plenty of wisdom to share and reflect on together towards understanding God’s truth. Starting with relational discernment means that we let the Spirit lead us within relationship to one another. This means one-to-one, small group, and large group conversations, resourced by prayer, scripture, and ritual. Today I’ll share about a large group discernment, and next week I will dive into one-to-one relational discernment practice. 

So, What Does the Holy Spirit Feel Like?

In order to identify spiritual gifts and talents, it is wise to start by identifying the Holy Spirit first. Naming how we experience the Holy Spirit can help us tune into when the Spirit is connecting with us in unexpected ways. Whether that is a moment of unveiling a spiritual gift in ourselves or within others.We all have the capacity to get too comfortable. We easily settle into habits and practices; we become known to family, friends, and our church as a certain type of person with certain gifts, and get volunteered for the same thing over and over; maybe we even get recognized for these gifts with awards; if we are lucky we get employed for our gifts and find ourselves in a vocation. But what happens when the Holy Spirit starts reaching out in new ways, but we’ve become so accustomed to our current identity, role, value, and relationships that we don’t sense the Spirit’s movement? Some of us have been through this before, and know the answer all too well. The Spirit doesn’t stop for anything, and will find a way to get your attention, even if it is a dramatic, painful experience. As one member of the congregation put it, “Sometimes the Holy Spirit feels like dummy slaps to the back of the head, but that’s usually when I am off track.”Again, this is why it is wise to gain collective clarity about the movement of the Holy Spirit. Developing an ongoing spiritual practice of moving together with the Spirit is ideal. Rather than a pattern of reactivity to the Spirit’s abrupt redirects to get us back on track. To get us started, I asked the congregation: “What does the Holy Spirit feel like?” The immediate facial responses of the group were somewhere between “I’m not sure I understand the question,” and “I am not willing to travel down this path you.” As an educator, I am familiar, and for a split second I thought to myself, “Ok, this is one of those situations where one, maybe two people, will respond hesitantly and the rest of the room will be silent.” But before I had time to plan my next move, an amazing thing happened. The Holy Spirit filled the room. I mean filled it. Here is the wisdom that came out of Park Hill UCC this Sunday, as they responded, “we experience the Holy Spirit as…”

• A warm feeling in my chest. Sometimes it is a contraction, when I am resistant to something. Other times it is a feeling of expansion, when I am open to where the Holy Spirit is leading.
• A healing presence. I feel lifted, and sometimes the Spirit alights upon us—like last Sunday when we were singing.
• Coming to me in dreams and messages like “now is the time.”
• Overwhelming me to tears every time we sign “Here I am Lord.”
• A light upon us, a literal light.
• A tug or a push for me to do something, sometimes I don’t know why I need to do it, but I do, and then I learn.
• A total interconnection with another human being
• Connections to just the right person at the right moment. God puts us in one another’s path as we need each other and creates opportunities and possibilities we couldn’t have planned ourselves.
• A sense of timelessness. Time stops in the presence of the Spirit.
• A reassuring flow of energy. Like being held in something bigger.
• Euphoric. Knowing that what is meant to be, will be.
• A force that drives me forward, even in my weakest moments. Not just in my social justice work, but also my personal weakest moments.
• Connection to another person that over time becomes clear that we are talking about the same things in our own ways.
• A sense that I am in the right place at the right time, or not. A sense that things are well in the world, or they are not and I have to address it.
• A state of flow. I’m more engaged, so much so that my words and actions just come out and I don’t even have to try.
• An unspoken command, and I have to respond.
• A chill, causing me to look up. Sometimes it is a foretelling, other times a foreboding.
• Awe and humility that causes me to fall on my knees.

That last one. I felt that last one in my heart. I was in awe and humility of the spiritual wisdom of the congregation and their willingness to testify to one another about their experiences of the Holy Spirit. Especially when this kind of sharing is not part of their regular worshiping practice together. These are not textbook definitions of how the scripture or theologians describe the Holy Spirit, although they rightly could be. These are the real life experiences of the Holy Spirit from everyday Christians. The Creator’s Truth abiding in each one of them.This is the Holy Spirit alive in the progressive Church.  

What’s Next

Next week we will explore the power of naming spiritual gifts and talents in others. To prepare our hearts and minds for our time together next week, I’ve asked the congregation to engage a spiritual practice. By next Sunday, share with one other person how you experience their spiritual gifts, and thank them for sharing their gifts. See below “Spiritual Practice” for more details and some tips.

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Resources for Your Faith Journey

Scripture as Prayer: 

I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in Christ, in speech and knowledge of every kind— just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you—so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift. (1 Corinthians 1:4-7)

Spiritual Practice:

By next Sunday, share with one person how you experience their spiritual gifts, and thank them for sharing their gifts.To do this well, it is important that you share in detail how you have witnessed or experienced their spiritual gifts and talents, and why it matters. You may find it useful to use a story (i.e.: remember when X happened, I noticed that you did Y, and it stood out to me, because not everyone would respond the same way. What you did meant a lot to me, because of Z.)The reason it is important that you give details and share a story is so that the other person can hear you. You want: 

1. The other person to know the importance of what you are sharing (i.e.: it is not just a casual comment, but a spiritual noticing of another person);
2. To connect Spirit-to-Spirit in your speaking and in their listening; and 
3. The other person to be affirmed or to become aware of their spiritual gifts, if they were not already aware.

Some people will immediately sense what you are about and will gratefully accept the gift of being spiritually recognized.Some people are not aware of or accepting of their spiritual gifts. Some may have extreme modesty, and are unable to see themselves and what they do as valuable. Other times, what they do seems so normal to them—no big deal, or is something they think everyone does, so they may not be aware of the uniqueness or impact they have on others. Still others may be in a season of life where their self confidence is low, and their sense of self fleeting. They will have a hard time hearing what you are trying to communicate, and because your words don’t match their sense of self, they may think you are talking about someone else (e.g.: “Oh, no, so-and-so is actually much more talented at X, you must have us confused.”)Then there are the many of us who are socialized to receive compliments poorly, and we quickly brush them off. This could be socialized humility, or a real sense that we are just “not good enough”—so anything that feels like a compliment is understood as not fully grounded in reality.  Have you noticed that when a compliment is offered, it is rare for someone to simply respond with a heartfelt “Thank you.” Often the response is, “Oh, well…[insert explanation or excuse irrelevant to the purpose of compliment, but relevant to the content of the complement].” For example: 

“I love your jacket, it looks great on you.”“Oh, yes, well, I got it on sale, it was 50% off!” [Read: I am uncomfortable receiving compliments, and I am not sure if I deserve to have nice things that make me feel good. So instead I’ll offer this accurate detail of why I came to have this nice item, but which is totally irrelevant to the purpose of why this person offered me a compliment] 

“I really appreciated what you said in that meeting. It made a lot of sense, and It helped me think further about the issue.”

“Oh. I mean, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I was just saying what everyone was thinking.” [Read: I am not that smart or special. What I do doesn’t really matter. I’m really just like everyone else.]

“That prayer you gave was powerful. I felt the Holy Spirit!”

“Oh, well that must have been a fluke. What I say usually doesn’t make any sense.” [Read: I’m really uncomfortable leading prayer, and don’t see myself in this role (even if I am good at it). Others do it better than me, are more credentialed than me, etc.]

By taking time to speak Spirit-to-Spirit with the other person, to speak in detail so that they can understand and hear you, you can move past some of these socialized responses and behaviors. You may be able to lift their Spirit into its rightful place of divine creation. There is no need to play small.If someone still responds with dismissiveness, interrupt it so that they know how serious you are. An interruption includes naming what is happening. For example, “I understand it can be difficult to have someone single you out, but this is really important. You have a real gift, and I want you to know I notice it. I am really grateful for you, and I am so grateful that you share this gift. It means a lot to me and to this church and community.”By this point, usually the other person will have let your words penetrate their defenses. They may not know what to say, other than, “thank you.”If you or the other person really struggle with receiving this kind of naming of spiritual gifts, you might invite a second conversation at a later date. Give yourself or the other person time to reflect on what has been shared and then come back with questions to help one another reflect and discover further.

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This post is part of a Lenten series, in which Juniper Formation founder and Minister of Prophetic Formation Rev. Dr. Jenny Whitcher is blogging alongside the facilitation of a relational discernment process with Park Hill United Church of Christ UCC. This series is offered with support and permission of Park Hill UCC, in our shared hope of providing 1) ongoing reflection and engagement with the congregation, and inclusion for those unable to physically be present for all parts of our journey; and 2) a unique opportunity for a wider audience to learn more in depth about the ministry and approach of Juniper Formation. You can read more about the purpose and process leading up to this Lenten series here. For all posts in this series visit Juniper Formation’s Inspirations blog, or subscribe to Juniper Formation’s blog posts and newsletter.