“Wind, Fire, Spirit”        Dr. Julie Adkins

                Text: Acts 2:1-21

SERMON

 

When I moved to west Texas –

            17 years ago, now –

                        the biggest surprise I had wasn’t the heat …

            I had grown up in San Antonio; I was used to that.

It wasn’t how friendly the people were,

            although that was a pleasant surprise,

                        and welcome after three years in New Jersey …

It wasn’t even how bad the water tasted;

            I had been warned about that!

No, the biggest surprise was the wind.

Of course, this was compounded by the fact that I arrived

            on the first of March …

                        which dud come in like a lion,

                        but somehow never got around to going out like a lamb.

After a month of papers flying out of my hands,

            and my hair standing straight up in the air,

                        and the car door slamming itself shut on my legs as I tried to get out …

            after that, I understood something I had never before understood:

                        those stories about people in frontier days

                        who would literally go crazy during a lengthy wind storm.

  

This was not the balmy breeze

            that cools you off on a summer day.

It was not the gentle, steady flow of air

            needed to turn the windmills and water the cattle.

No, this wind seemed almost like an evil force,

            uncontrollable, unpredictable, and unavoidable.

Its destructive power was awesome:

            everything from blowing down trees and fences –

                        and even windmills, for that matter –

            to blowing in things that made us sneeze.

I didn’t like it.

Some days it could be scary;

            others, it was just irritating;

                        but it was always there.

  

And that experience,

            and the same sort of thing year after year after year,

            has given me cause to re-think

                        that image of the Holy Spirit rushing in like a mighty wind.

Because even though we hear this story every year,

            fifty days after Easter, like clockwork,

                        somehow, this image of the Holy Spirit as a powerful wind

                                    is a hard on to hold onto.

Sort of like the wind is hard to hold onto!

When we think about the Holy Spirit

            in relation to our own lives,

                        if we think much about it at all,

            the images which guide us

                        are more often like those from John’s gospel.

“Testifying,” as something we heard today.

“The Counselor,” as Jesus says in chapter 14,

            or “Advocate,” as more modern translations have it,

                        or even “the Comforter,” if you prefer King James.

The Holy Spirit that we are most accustomed to

            is the gentle dove.

The God who comes to us in times of need,

            and advises, and comforts us,

                        teaches, and guides us.

And, when necessary,

            “intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.”

  

All and of that is true;

            that’s all part of who the Holy Spirit is,

                        and it’s an important part of the Spirit’s role in our lives.

But it is not the only part.

And if we aren’t careful to provide ourselves a balance

            for this half of the picture,

                        what we end up with is a sort of domesticated Holy Spirit …

One who exists to serve humankind,

            to carry us through difficult times,

                        help us out when we need or want help,

                                    but not much more than that.

No … we also need that image of the Spirit

            blowing in as powerful and unpredictable as a west Texas wind.

Not subject to our control,

            or our wishes, or even our needs,

                        but “blowing where it will.”

An untamed Holy Spirit,

            not bound my any human constraints,

                        but wild and free.

  

And I can’t speak for you,

            but I know that for me, sometimes,

                        thinking of the Holy Spirit in this way

                                    can be a wee bit disconcerting.

It can sometimes make me doubtful about

            whether I want to have anything to do with

                        this Holy Spirit character!
It’s like, if I invite the Spirit into my life even a little,

            I’m afraid what I’ll get is this crazy gust of wind,

                        wreaking havoc with my decently-and-in-order life –

                                    I mean, I am Presbyterian, after all! –

                        and will upset my best-laid plans.

But I’m not really much different from

            the rest of us human critters;

                        we hate giving up control.

Especially of our own lives.

Even if we know that it is God

            to whom we are giving control;

                        it’s still hard to do.

Sure, we know that we aren’t perfect,

            and that our lives aren’t 100% faithful,

                        and yet, we’ve made it this far, haven’t we?!

Do we dare mess with it?

If we were to say,

            “Okay, Holy Spirit; the door’s open, come on in,”

                        what happens if we really do get a big gust

                        that comes in and shuffles all the pieces?

Could we stand it if our lives needed that much changing?

  

Well, the truth is that we can,

            because the Holy Spirit

                        knows each of us as an individual,

            and isn’t going to dish out something that we can’t take.

May spend a year preparing us and then dish it out,

            but if things are happening in our lives that are overwhelming us,

                        those are not from the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is very deliberate about

            what it will and will not ask us to do.

So this is where

            the analogy with the west Texas wind starts to break down.

Because the wind is unpredictable and uncontrollable,

            but the Holy Spirit is very much in control.

It’s just not controllable or predictable by us.

And whereas the wind and its power

            can bring destruction and devastation,

            the Spirit’s power

                        is for creation and restoration.

And though it certainly may seem at times

            that the Spirit can make a mess when it comes gusting into our lives,

                        the Spirit doesn’t tear down unless it is in order to build up …

                                    and then, only if we are strong enough to take it.

 

 And this is important for us to keep in mind,

            because we in the mainline churches –

                        especially us decently-and-in-order Presbyterians –

            need to figure out how to open ourselves up more

                        to the surprising work of the Spirit.

Of course the Spirit is

            our guide, and our helper, and our counselor,

                        and I’m not suggesting for a minute that we give that up.

But we need a greater awareness and appreciation

            of the Holy Spirit’s work beyond the boundaries of our own life.

That is,

            not only how the Spirit helps us to live our life,

                        but also how the Spirit seeks to transform our life.

And how the Spirit works in us and for us

            not only when we pray,

            but even when we’re not thinking about it

                        and not even aware of it.

 

I mean,

            this is the reason we baptize babies, not adults.

(Pay attention, all you “recovering Baptists”

            who like to give me grief about this.)

It is not that a tiny baby

            has made a profession of faith

                        and committed his or her life to Jesus Christ.

It’s that we recognize that the Holy Spirit

            is already active in

                        that adorable, screaming, wiggling, hungry, sleeping child.

In ways that the parents can’t control,

            and Sunday school teachers can’t control,

                        and the child doesn’t know enough to want to control!

The Holy Spirit sometimes waits for an invitation,

            but isn’t dependent on it,

                        in order to begin working on us.

Just like the wind comes,

            unexpected and uninvited!

  

And even though we are no longer tiny children

            the Holy Spirit is still at work

                        in us, and on us, and on our behalf.

And sometimes it is like a gentle dove,

            but just as often it’s like a gusting wind,

                        or a flaming fire.

Awesome force,

            that is scary to think about approaching,

                        and accepting, and welcoming.

God’s love for us is real,

            but sometimes it is tough!

Sometimes,

            becoming the person God has in mind for us to be

                        will involve blowing away, or burning away,

                                    a part of who we are right now that isn’t quite right.

And that’s not ever a pleasant thing to think about …

            that sometimes we have to hurt in order to be helped.

  

But the good news to remember

            is that the Holy Spirit is not

                        an indiscriminate wind or fire,

                                    even if it sometimes feels that way …

It is the power of God.

Power that began the church

            all those centuries ago …

                        power to claim and to change our lives

                                    right here and right now.

  

The Holy Spirit has come.

God is in our midst.

Hang on;

            it could be a wild ride!

Amen.

 

© 2003 Julie Adkins (e-mail: DrJAdkins@trinitypresdallas.org)