O Holy Spirit, root of life

O Holy Spirit, root of life.  Jean Janzen* (1933- ). Commissioned by the editors of the Mennonite Hymnal: a Worship Book prepared by Churches in the Believers Church Tradition (Elgin, Illinois, 1992), this hymn draws on three texts by Hildegard of Bingen*. They have been identified by Paul Westermeyer* as ‘De Spiritu Sancto’, ‘O Virtus Sapientiae’, and ‘O Vis Aeternitatis’. He writes of the attributes of the Holy Spirit mentioned in this hymn as ‘this dizzying list: root, creator, cleanser, anointer who awakens; vigor, Saving One who frees us and restores all creation by the Word made flesh; Wisdom and power who encompasses and carries us, encircling the whole creation’ (Westermeyer, 2010,...