Stopping at Lake Champlain, we set up camp. As we finished supper,
the wind picked up. Rain started falling, the thunder crashed, and the camper
vibrated in the gusty wind. As we lay in our sleeping bags, we could hear the
wind increasing. Branches broke; the waves on the lake roared. Not far away,
whole trees broke and fell. It was a little spooky lying there with only a few
aluminum rods and a sheet of canvas between me and the storm outside.
In the morning, everything was fine with us, but the
evidence of a violent storm was all around us. I couldn’t wait to get the
camper hooked up to our 1965 Ambassador wagon and get home.
Jesus says that we can hear the wind, but we know neither where
it comes from nor where it is going. My feeling is, if you can hear it, I don’t
care where it has come from. I’m busy worrying about the here and now.
Even if one thinks about the double meaning of wind (in
Greek, wind can be either wind or spirit) and thinks about the spirit’s call, I
still worry about the here and now. If the spirit is speaking, I’m thinking we
should be listening, not caring where the spirit has been before, nor where it
will speak next.
Evidence of the spirit suggests that violent things happen. Jesus is cast into the wilderness by the spirit in Mark . The spirit blows through Jerusalem
When the spirit/wind blows, you can bet that change is not
far off. It may come to you or may blow you away to new ways of living in God’s
kingdom. God’s kingdom has broken into our world and the spirit continues to
blow in it. Indeed we do not know where the spirit/wind comes from nor where we
will end up. It’s enough to find home in our baptismal life and to live in the
here and now.
Prayer
Lord, we thank you for claiming us in the waters of baptism,
but the force of your spirit sometimes frightens us. Give us courage to stand
in your wind of change for the sake of your creation. Amen
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