Common Ground Song 118 ‘Spirit of the Lord’
Words / Music: Ian White © Little Misty Music
Featured image: window in the Pontifical College in Jerusalem. © J Voitus / Flickr

I had not come across Ian White before, but it seems he is a prolific composer of simple worship songs. Strangely, his YouTube channel does not have a recording of this particular one. However it is a very simple repetitive chant, with a verse and chorus of almost identical melody, and easy to sight-read.

It could be used congregationally, but equally well in private devotions, as I did, to focus on the work of the Holy Spirit.  The words invite him to work in us his nine ‘fruits’. Nine? For some reason, in the song as printed in Common Ground there are only eight, with ‘peace’ omitted. I included it. And as my choice of image for today reminds us, the Dove of Peace is most urgently needed in Jerusalem and all that region at present. Let us pray for Christians involved in any way in the conflict, whether as innocent civilians or in (probably Western) armed forces, or as aid workers meeting the needs of the inevitable refugees. Peace can be shattered in minutes, and takes years to rebuild, but as I suggested yesterday (‘Singing and Sowing’), God works by taking the joint efforts of many people, over a long period of time.