Loving Spirit

Author: Shirley Erena Murray

Shirley Erena Murray (b. Invercargill, New Zealand, 1931) studied music as an undergraduate but received a master’s degree (with honors) in classics and French from Otago University. Her upbringing was Methodist, but she became a Presbyterian when she married the Reverend John Stewart Murray, who was a moderator of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. Shirley began her career as a teacher of languages, but she became more active in Amnesty International, and for eight years she served the Labor Party Research Unit of Parliament. Her involvement in these organizations has enriched her writing of hymns, which address human rights, women’s concerns, justice, peace, the integrity of creation, and the unity of the church. Many of her 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