Sunday, May 19, 2013: Acts 2:1-21; Romans 8:14-17; John 14:8-17 (25-27)
My first notions of the spirit world came not from the Bible, but from 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey, a collection of ghost stories written by Kathryn Tucker Windham and Margaret Gillis Figh. When I was in fourth grade I gave a report on this book.
I especially remember the tale of Jeffrey, a mischievous spirit who first made his presence known in the Windham home one night in 1966. “At irregular and infrequent intervals, [he would] clump down the hall, slam doors, rock in a chair, frighten the family cat, move heavy pieces of furniture, cause electronic equipment to malfunction, and hide objects.” To this day when I drive around the square of one of those quaint Alabama towns, I look to see if there is a face in the courthouse window.
It stands to reason that as a child growing up in the Bible Belt I associated the ghosts of these stories with the Holy Ghost in the church house. Evangelists who visited preached passionate and lengthy revival sermons alternating almost schizophrenically between asking, “Have you received the Holy Ghost?” and warning, “Beware of quenching the Holy Ghost,” as though this supernatural apparition could invade our bodies or condemn our souls, depending on our response at that moment.
