Preparations for the new community’s first Life in the Spirit Seminar started about
6 months after the ME 1 weekend.
Only three couples had formation as LSS shepherds, hence the candidates were prepared primarily through group shepherding after the Friday corporate worship.
Group shepherding seemed to me like Word Sharing Circles: we all reflected on how the assigned Scripture verses spoke to our hearts.
Our LSS shepherd seemed to function as the circle shepherd.
The only difference was that we were asked to reflect on an assigned Scripture verse relevant to an LSS topic every day for one week, to record these reflections on a notebook, and then read them during the group shepherding.
This daily immersion in the Word opened me to a more intense “shepherding” by the Holy Spirit, for I found myself being drawn to frequent prayer and praise during the day, oftentimes without consciously deciding to do so.
I recall 2 or 3 instances during the LSS shepherding season when I would fall asleep at night after praying the Scriptures, and then dreaming of having an ecstatic encounter with the Lord. I would wake up to the sound and feel of babbling coming from my mouth with shock and incredulity. The moment my conscious mind took over, the babble disappeared. I recall driving to work one morning while singing praise songs, when I involuntarily began babbling. It lasted only briefly, for I instinctively suppressed it with my mind and my mouth.
A couple of weeks before our LSS 1 weekend, I was sent by my employer to an annual industry convention in Las Vegas. After dinner during my first night in town, I declined my co-workers’ invitation to join them in gambling and watching shows. I knew what would happen if I went with them. Instead, I returned to my hotel room where I read the Bible and prayed. While I was praying, I felt a pleasant warmness surge through my body and I began babbling. It was like my previous babbling experiences, but this time, I did not stifle it. I allowed it to happen. It was during this night while I was praying alone in my hotel room in Las Vegas that the gift of tongues was released in me. It was on this night that I received my “baptism” in the Spirit.
As we were unable to secure a Catholic Church as venue for the LSS 1 weekend, we held it in the basement of a Methodist Church in Kenilworth. We were blessed with sharers, auxiliaries and praise ministry volunteers from our sister communities in Manila and Toronto. During the baptism of the Spirit that Saturday night, my gift of tongues freely expressed itself when the priest laid his hand on me. But also I felt a new, initially eerie sensation. It felt like a small marble rolling up and down underneath a vein on my left temple. It was followed by a similar sensation underneath a vein on my right temple. Then I experienced the sensation simultaneously on both temples. When the “baptism” ended, the sensation left. It would return every now and then during prayer for several years. I do not know what that sensation meant; I only know that its effects have been good.
A month or so later, the Tricord and some members of ME 1 gathered at the living room of our home for Easter vigil. We had closed all the windows shut, to avoid waking up the neighbors with our singing. At midnight, after proclaiming the Easter vigil Scripture readings and while singing worship songs, a strong wind buffeted the room’s east-facing and west-facing windows almost simultaneously. The wind came from the east and the west. Both windows shook vigorously.
When this happened, we looked at each other with surprise. That surprise quickly changed to understanding. Without exchanging words or missing a beat, we continued our worship songs, but this time, with greater exultation and gusto, for the Spirit of the Lord had honored us with His visit.
“When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly, there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were.” Acts 2:1-2
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