Loving Spirit

Author: Shirley Erena Murray

SHIRLEY ERENA MURRAY (b. 1931) is a hymn text writer, born in Invercargill, New Zealand in 1931. Her texts have appeared in more than 100 collections worldwide and have been translated into several languages. She has been an editor with the New Zealand Hymnbook Trust and received international acclaim for her writing, including being made a Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music (2006) and becoming a Member of the NZ Order of Merit (2001) for services to the community through hymn writing. She is the first citizen to be so honored. Most recently, she has been honored by the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada at its July 2009 annual conference by being named a Fellow of the Society in recognition of her contributions as a hymn… Go to person page >

Although “Loving Spirit” appears to be addressed to the Holy Spirit; I suggest it’s addressed instead to the triune God, addressed here as “Spirit” instead of God. I think so because the hymn in its second stanza says that the loving spirit “feed[s] me with your very body, form[s] me of your flesh and bone.”

Neal Plantinga