Jeewanaye Saminda

Lord of life, who moves over the face of the waters,
who drove away the emptiness of eternity,
who prepared the way of a new creation,
O Holy Spirit

Comforting Lord, who dwells and works within us,
we will unite to be filled by you,
to build up a new person within us,
O Holy Spirit

Bringing the sevenfold gifts, come, my Lord,
to fill our lives with the flavour of the teaching,
to spread the good news to all ten directions,
O Holy Spirit

This is a hymn to the Holy Spirit that beautifully joins the very beginning of the Bible to its ongoing work in the believer. Its first image is drawn straight from the opening lines of Genesis, where “the Spirit of God moved over the face of the waters” at creation. The song addresses the Spirit as “Lord of life, who moves over the face of the waters, who drove away the emptiness of eternity, who prepared the way of a new creation.” The same Spirit who first brought order and life out of the void is the one it now calls upon.

The second verse brings that creative power inside the human heart. The Holy Spirit is the “comforting Lord, who dwells and works within us,” and the prayer is to be remade by him, “to build up a new person within us.” Just as the Spirit made a world at the beginning, he makes new people now, the “new creation” the New Testament promises to those in Christ.

The final verse asks for the Spirit’s gifts to bear fruit outward. Bringing “the sevenfold gifts,” the traditional gifts of the Spirit, he is asked “to fill our lives with the flavour of the teaching” and “to spread the good news to all ten directions.” What the listener is left with is a sweeping vision that runs from the waters of Genesis to the mission of the church, and a humble prayer that the same Spirit who created the world would create something new inside the singer, and then send that renewed life out to fill the world with good news.