Wind Blows Where it Chooses

"The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)

I think that verse is one of those lovely verses in John that we know must be true, but we just don't take the time to know what it means. At least for me, this is true. I've read it, but I"m always distracted by the rest of the very lovely chapter, and I don't think about this verse.

This morning, I was reading a chapter from Rachel Held Evans book, Searching for Sunday; she was writing about this verse. Jesus is trying to explain -- well -- everything to Nicodemus, and Nic isn't getting it. So, finally, Jesus tells him to compare the spirit to the wind - in fact, he uses a word that means both spirit and wind. 

Think about it. You see the work of God in the world, if you will look, but like hearing the wind, you don't know where God comes from, where God is going. You can't predict the wind (or God); you can't control the wind (or God). Even though we try.

If we look, we will see the work of God everywhere. Evans says we will recognize God's work by the fruit - fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Where have you seen those lately?

A few days ago, I was driving to work, and I saw a turtle trying to cross the road. In our impatient world,  no one is going to wait for the turtle to cross the road, or even notice that it is there. A turtle crossing the road is going to die. Horribly (for the turtle). I often just drive by, in a hurry to get where I cam going and do what I need to do, but today, I stopped and turned around. I was going to get the turtle out of the road.

As I was driving back to the turtle crossing, I saw a very large, black SUV coming down the road, right at the poor, slow turtle. Surprising to me, it stopped, right before it hit the turtle. A large (by large, I mean tall, athletic, young) man stepped out of the car. He rescued the turtle.

Kindness, right in front of me. 

The spirit moving. 

It wasn't a bit thing (unless you were the turtle), but maybe it was a big thing. Maybe it was God at work in that man's life, and in my life, to make himself known.

The wind blows where it chooses.

Spirit

Oh, God, my God.

You breathed,

and the world came into being.

You spoke your breath,

and life entered me.

I breathe.

In and out.

I don't notice it.

I pay no attention.

Until I can't breathe anymore.

Your spirit is wind,

breathing through my life,

around my life.

I don't notice it.

I pay no attention.

Until I can't breathe anymore.

Fill my life today.

Be in my breath.

Heal what is broken;

make me whole.

Empower me so that

I can do your work in the world.

Move as you do.

Help me to pay attention.

I pray that you will be the wind

in my life.

Moving through me,

with me,

in spite of me,

Inhabiting my words,

motivating my deeds,

clearing my thoughts.

Until I can't breathe anymore.

And beyond.

Fruit of the Spirit

But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.  (Galatians 5:22-23; The Message)

Can you name the list?  ...The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

We often call them fruits of the spirit, although the passage above from New Revised Standard Version calls all of them together "fruit."  Either way, these are gifts God gives to us through the Holy Spirit.  Right?

On Sunday, someone called them Christian values.  I think we do value them as gifts, but I worry that calling them values implies that they are personality characteristics that we strive to achieve.  They aren't, as far as I understand them.  I believe Paul is telling us that when we live a life for God, that these are the result - that they are gifts given to us by God.  On my own, I might not be able to achieve peace, for example.  I might value it, but achieving it on my own, no matter how hard I strive to live a peaceful life, is going to be impossible.  But living with God, I can be gifted with peace, and it might show in the way I live my life.

These are gifts, not accomplishments.

Fruit

The devotional I was reading yesterday (by K.J. West) said:

The fruit (singular) of the Spirit that Paul mentions is a communal gift, and only God can give the growth needed for this fruit -- by way of the life-giving energy of the Spirit.  Paul says that a church being led by the Spirit will be marked by the presence of these gifts.  

Hmmm.  A church being led by the Spirit will be marked by the presence of these gifts.  That makes sense.  Is the opposite true?  Does the absence of these gifts mark a church that has wavered from its purpose?  That is not following the leading of the Spirit?

When division and disunity prevail, and there is no kindness, no compassion, no patience, is that a symptom that should tell us more than the idea that everyone is not getting along?  When hatred and distrust prevail, even when those involved feel a sense of righteousness, is that a warning?

Can we, as church communities, work through our differences while also following God?  Of course we can, but it's harder.  It means that  love prevails, and we have to be intentional about it.  It means we must continue to focus on the idea that the person in front of us, with whom we disagree, is a child of God.  The person is still a person you love, and not an object.  (Sounds like The Anatomy of Peace.)

Spirit

The word today is spirit.

There is something about the play of light and sky that reminds me of God.  That says "God" to me.  Maybe it is the use of the metaphor of God is light in the Bible. Maybe it is the connection of the words spirit and wind and breath in Hebrew.

Spirit of God

Fire.  Wind.  Forces that can be destructive.

We compare the Spirit of God to fire.  To wind.  Spirit of God, descend upon my heart.  I was reading a sermon at Reflectionary.  Martha talked about how we think that is a gentle vision -- God coming.

But fire can be violent.  Wind can be disturbing.  Do we really think God will always be calm and gentle.  Do we realize when we pray for the Spirit to come into our lives that our plans might be changed?  That our peaceful existence could be blown apart?

Spirit of God, Descend upon my heart.

Do we really mean it?

Clip art from Hermanoleon Clipart.

If You Love Me, Part III

Continued from yesterday

God has acted and provided for us an advocate, a comforter, a helper – he has placed himself beside us during time or trouble or need.  The Bible is full of images that echo this action of love.  Think back to the time when God bans Adam and Eve from the Garden.  Before they leave, he makes them clothes.  When Jacob has left home and is headed to Haran, he dreams about a ladder reaching toward heaven.  Angels were moving up and down the ladder, but God was standing beside Jacob, on the ground.  When Moses tries to argue his way out of going back to Egypt, God is right there with him, countering each argument, but never giving up on him.  I hope you have experienced that kind of presence of God.  I hope you have felt God standing with you in time of trouble or need.

Knowing the impossibility of the task, and out of his great love for us, God has acted, and calls the Holy Spirit to be with us – grace to equip us for the task.
Jesus goes on to say, “In a little while the world will no longer see me but you will see me, because I live, you also will live.  On that day you will know that I am in my Father and you in me, and I in you.” 

God, through the Holy Spirit, will abide in us and we will abide in him.  Abide is one of those words that sound like we ought to understand it, but sometimes leaves us a little confused.  What does it mean to abide?  What does it mean that the spirit abides in us and we in him?

A pastor explained this to me once using a bowl of water and a sponge.  The sponge (representing us) before it enters the water, is hard and dry.  Place it in the bowl of water, and it absorbs the water (representing the spirit).  The water fills it.  The water is in the sponge.  The water abides in it.  In addition, the sponge is in the water.  The sponge abides in the water. 

The point is that the nature of this active love between us and God is that we are in relationship with the creator of the universe.  We can see God and know God.  We can hear the leading of God and act upon it, because God is with us, in the most connected sense.  Perhaps the impossible task of obedience is made more possible through God’s grace in sending us his spirit because we are now connected to him.

Because of that relationship, we know that God is trustworthy.  We know that we are not alone, and we know where God is leading us.  We may not always know our destination, but we know that God knows where he is leading us.  We love him enough to understand the nature of love.  We trust him enough to be obedient.

I was privileged to hear a young man speak about what he hoped would be his future relationship to God.  He compared it to the story of the Walk to Emmaus.  Jesus is walking the road with two believers who have witnessed his death and yet do not yet know of his resurrection.  They know him but they do not recognize him.  The young man said that he hoped that in the future, he would act in such a way that those who knew him would not recognize him, but would only see Jesus in his actions.

Is your love of God evident in your obedience to him?  Is your love of God an active love that spills over into love of your neighbor?  Can others see the nature of love and the nature of God through you?

Are you so obedient to God that you would jump into the deep hole with your friend, and do you trust God enough to know that he jumps in with you? 

If You Love Me, Part II

Continued from yesterday

Haven’t you been to a funeral where the loved one of the person who died says to you, “Thank you so much for being here.”  Have you ever thought in response to that comment, “Where else would I be?”  Our love for the person who died or for the friend in front of us has brought us to the funeral – what else could we do, really?  Our action – our presence – is not only a tangible result of our love, but is also tangible evidence of our love.

Jesus is telling his Disciples that their love of him must not just be sentiment.  It must translate to action, because that is the nature of love.

Remember, Jesus is saying these words to the disciples.  These are his friends – and he KNOWS them.  He knows how lost they can be.  He knows how they doubt, how they will betray him.  He knows how many times they have fallen short of obedience.  And I imagine that he knows that they will continue to fall short.  Jesus knows that obedience, to his disciples, sometimes feels like an impossible climb out of a deep hole.   He knows that his friends, even if they try to be obedient, will fall short. 

Don’t ever doubt, though, that he loved them anyway.  His next words confirm his love for them.  Jesus tells his disciples that even though he is leaving – he is soon going to die – he does not leave them alone.  He promises them that there will be someone with them.  The word he uses in Greek is parakletos.  The Greek is untranslatable; in various bibles you can read it as Comforter, Helper, Advocate.  William Barclay, a Scottish theologian, says that it really means ‘someone who is called in’ to during time of trouble or need. 

Jesus promises the disciples that they will not be orphaned – he is not leaving them alone.  We are promised the same thing.  We will not be orphaned; we are not alone.  God loves us – and it is a love that is not sentiment or lovely feelings.  It is a love that translates into action.  He knows the call he has placed on our lives is difficult – may even be impossible if we were to attempt it by ourselves.  He acts.  He does not leave us alone.  He sends the Holy Spirit to be with us, and that gift – that grace – is evidence of his love for us.   The Holy Spirit is the friend who jumps into the deep hole with us.

A few months ago, my older son was on his way to a high school basketball game.  He was driving, and I guess he was overly anxious to get to the game, because he was pulled over for speeding.  This wasn’t just speeding.  This was Speeding with a capital S.  His speed was so fast that he had to appear in traffic court rather than just send in money to pay the ticket. 

I’m sure you can imagine the fear in the heart of a 17 year old when he has to appear in court.  When the time came, my son, my husband and I went together to the community center where court is held.  It was a large room, with lots of folding chairs arranged in rows facing a desk with the judge, an administrator and a police officer.  As the judge called each person forward, he had to go to the desk, sit down in front of the judge, explain what he had done wrong, and listen to the judgment rendered – in front of everyone. 

When our son’s turn came, he stood up and walked to the front of the room.  We went with him, sat with him at the judge’s desk, spoke on his behalf, and explained the consequences we had instituted.  When we got back to the car to leave, my son said, “I was so glad you went up with me; I didn’t know you were going to do that.”

Just like at the funeral, I thought, “Where else would we be?”

Continued tomorrow

If You Love Me, Part I

In answer to Sunday's signpost question, that sign is located on the hill on the Days Hotel hill in Flatwoods. I took the picture on my way to preach at Morrison United Methodist Church (and then Gassaway United Methodist Church). The following (and the next two days posts) are my sermon from that day.

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. "I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."  John 14:15-21

There is an old story, and maybe you’ve heard it, but I’m going to tell it to you anyway, even though it’s old…..

Once, there was a man who fell into a hole. We don’t know why he would do such a thing – what happened that he didn’t avoid this giant hole – maybe he didn’t stop for directions or listen to his wife’s advice about going another way and avoiding the hole, but never-the-less, he fell into this hole. It was deep, and he was stuck, with no way out.

He waited at the bottom of this hole, calling out every once and a while, hoping someone would come by. Eventually, his neighbor poked her head over the edge of the hole. “Oh, my, Mr. Smith! What are you doing at the bottom of this hole?”

“I fell into it – can you help me?”

The neighbor told him how sorry she was for his predicament, and how she felt for him. She understood how awful it must be down in the deep hole. And then she left, feeling pretty good about herself that she had shown her neighbor how much she cared.

And the man stayed in the hole.

Eventually, a fellow choir member from his church came by. Once again, the man explained that he needed help, and that he was stuck in the hole. The choir member said, “Oh, how terrible! I’ll pray for you – I’ll call the other choir members and we’ll pray for you, too! We’ll activate the prayer chain, and maybe we’ll even have a vigil. Please know that you are in our prayers.” And he left.

And the man stayed in the hole.

Eventually, a friend came along. Once again, the man explained that he needed help, and that he was stuck in the hole. The friend looked around, studied the situation, and then jumped down into the hole with the man. “What are you doing!” the man yelled. “Now you’re down here, too.”

The friend answered, “Yes, but I’ve been down here before, and I know the way out.”

The scripture I read today is from a section of the book of John called the Final discourse.  John has recorded Jesus’ conversation with the Disciples just prior to the crucifixion.  Jesus is having an intimate conversation with his closest friends.  They’ve been through a lot together, shared life with each other.  Jesus is preparing them for what he knows is about to happen. 

My husband likes Red Letter Bibles --  I don’t – I’m distracted by the red, but I noticed as I was reading the scripture one more time before preparing the sermon that every word of this passage is in red letters.  These are the words of Christ, shared with his friends.  Red letter words.  We are invited to listen and to hear within those words what God might be saying to us through their conversation.

The passage begins with the words, “If you love me….”  I think the passage is about love – about the very nature of love.  “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  The Message version of the Bible reads, “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you.”  We have been told that the Greatest Commandment is to Love God with everything we have and are and to love our neighbor as ourselves. If we ever had any illusion that love is just warm feelings toward someone, that love is only sympathy or even empathy, if we ever thought we could love from a distance, then this passage – If you love me, then show it by doing what I’ve told you – shatters those assumptions.  Love is active.  Our obedience to God is not to be done out of duty or even fear; our obedience to God an expression of our love for him.  True love of God cannot help but translate into obedience and action. 

Continued tomorrow

Comforter

In worship today (away from home), the leader of the children's moment asked the kids to think if they had a particular blanket or stuffed animal that made them feel secure and safe -- a security blanket or a special toy. A couple of them did.

She told them that God has sent us a special comforter who lives inside of us. One of the kids knew it was the Holy Spirit.

In some ways, I thought it was a good analogy -- something small children could grasp -- that God is with them, comforts them when they are frightened or alone. In other ways, of course, it falls very short of describing the role of the Holy Spirit.

Of course, no analogy is adequate to explain the wonder of God.

Holy Spirit

I was led to a couple of blogs by this post by David on Methodist Preacher.com.  I do have opinions, but I'm not going to enter the fray.

However, in reading these, I was struck by an image I had never considered.  In my mind's eye, Jesus, the human (and he was 100% human, in addition to being 100% divine) was male.  I gather that from what is written in the Bible.  In my mind's eye, when I need an image of God, he is male.  In my mind itself, God has no gender.  I limit him with my male image of him, but I'm aware I do it. 

But, my image of the spirit has no gender at all.  I had never considered that before.  I might call the spirit by the male pronoun, but only because the word "it" is too impersonal.  Truly, I don't imagine any gender at all for the Spirit of God.  Just Spirit.  As close as my breath, part of my breath, living with in me and around me, but not male or female.  Just Spirit. 

Someone, Pam, I think, said the Spirit was a foreign invader, because she could not relate to him (because of the maleness).  Maybe the spirit is a foreign invader (not the way Pam means).  S/he is separate from me.  Foreign at times, but only because we disagree, and we argue until I am convinced. 

When I'm in my chair, praying, God is God.  There is God and there is me, and that's it.  No one else gets to dictate any part of that (not that anyone is trying to).