Things like, electricity for example. You can google the image "Earth at Night" which is a composite image of the whole planet taken at night-time. All that you can see are the outlines of the countries and the clusters of civilisation where people have constructed large cities and small villages, all with one thing in common. Light. They are all lit up by electricity.
And yet, we cannot see electricity. In a way it is the purest form of energy. We cannot see it, and yet we can see it's effects. We flick a switch and the light comes on. Indeed, if we are really fancy we clap our hands and light comes on!
Even though we cannot see it, we have a good idea what electricity feels like when we touch it! And, if we stand near a high-voltage power line, or at the side of a sub-station, at times we can hear the buzz that large amounts of electricity make.
In the Bible, the Holy Spirit is spoken of as wind or breath, as a dove, as fire and as other natural phenomena. Wind is a good image for the Spirit of God because again we cannot see it clearly, but we can see it's effects. The dove as a bird that symbolises the peace that exists between God and man is another great symbol for the Holy Spirit. The Spirit as fire tells us something about the burning zeal in our hearts that can come about in us because of the Spirit of God dwelling within us.
The Holy Spirit is like the electricity that keeps the Church alive. The Holy Spirit has sustained the Church for 2,000 years through triumph and tribulation, through sin and grace. It is by the grace of the Holy Spirit that others shared with us the Good News of Jesus Christ, and it is by the same grace of the Holy Spirit that we share the Good News by passing it on.
What is the Holy Spirit? Theologians tell us that it is the love that is shared between God the Father and God the Son. They tell us that we share in that love – that love is the electricity that drives our participation in the life of God.
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