Today I want to reflect on wind, breath and spirit. In English generally seen as different words, but in Greek, and also Hebrew, the same word. First I wish to consider the wind, the winds of change, swirling around us; and then in the midst of all this, the gift of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus breathed on his disciples that evening of Easter Day.
In John 20:22 we read Jesus breathed on the gathered, fearful disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit”, and also “Peace be with you”.
In the Church we have taken the rhythm of our Christian year from Luke and Acts. Pentecost, the day we celebrate and mark the gift of the Holy Spirit, falls 50 days after Easter on the Jewish feast of Pentecost. This day celebrates the birth of the church and the beginning of the mission of God throughout the world. For the evangelist John, however, the gift of the spirit, the call to mission are inseparably tied to the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. When we celebrate Easter; when we affirm that Christ is no longer dead but alive, we also celebrate the beginnings of mission and the life of the Church. Jesus in our passage says: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you”: this is our command to serve and love as Christ has loved us. Resurrection, mission, and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit all come together at Easter. For John, the church’s ongoing life as a community of faith, as a people who continue Jesus’ word in the world, derives from Jesus’ Easter promises and gifts. Dramatically Jesus, the risen crucified Jesus, will be present with his followers as they continue his ministry in the world and announce the coming kingdom of God. Indeed Jesus says three times in the space of a few short verses “Peace be with you” as he breathes on them and gives them his Spirit.
My focus however, is initially on wind. . . and winds of change, the winds that blow around us. Some may be the movement of the spirit, some may not.
In the two months I have been here at Carlton, I have been amazed to hear the stories of change that have swept through this suburb and this community of the Church. As I have listed to the stories of Doug and Ethel, of Mac and way back to that of Arthur and Rose, and indeed many others of you – the changes here have been enormous, they are still going on . . . and yet we are still here endeavouring to be the Christ to this community. Carlton has moved from being a working class community, to being a suburb of choice for the rich and upwardly mobile; it has moved from terraces and cottages, or the politically incorrect term of slums, to high rises; wave upon wave of immigrants have come through; while all along this church has had many different roles as it has endeavoured to fulfil the mission of God – the winds of change, don’t blow here, they howl.
One of the best wind stories, or perhaps winds of destruction, stories I have heard, comes from a now retired Uniting Church minister, Wally and Jill Faull, who were in Darwin at the time of Cyclone Tracey - Christmas 1974. Their story is absolutely amazing, captivating: and perhaps even a parable for us as we face our winds of change around us.
The wind began on Christmas Eve. They and their young children just gathered in the lounge room and watched it all develop. They were fascinated: they stood in front of a large window and watched the debris go down the street; trees being uprooted – they felt safe enough; it was just so interesting in seeing what was going on outside. But then there came an almighty crash of debris into the corner of the window frame. They realised then (and with hindsight) how stupid and dangerous their standing there had been – they could have been killed. But the wind drew them in and fascinated them. However, when the crisis came they had to do something else.
Often it happens that way. An incident, a crisis happens – and a different response is needed. So in the past it would have been interesting enough to see swirling change around us over the slum clearances, but did we actually want more high rise; it would have been interesting, fascinating to have many different cultures living on our doorstep – but was this community cohering together or working, did we need to respond. Fascinating social forces still swirl around us – are we just fascinated; or do we need to be engaged and work with these changes.
Well, in a cyclone the only sensible approach is bunker down. They did this in a hallway: the six of them – they covered themselves with mattresses – and heard the roof and walls being ripped apart. In a moving way, just a couple of years ago, Wally and Jill Faull, could still speak of the conversations they had that night among themselves. They made the point that not all of them may see the new day – which ironically was Christmas Day. One or more of them may be killed or injured. And it is true the wind of change can be so strong and destructive, death can be realistically and sincerely talked about. And for the church in the 21st century this is not an unrealistic conversation to have in some contexts. Some congregations will not survive; certainly for most congregations they will only survive in a very different form to that which we have today. For us, will we be the church in the same way in the future?
Morning did come – and they were all alive. But what did they have left? Well nothing; some stored food – but no clothes, no possessions – nothing. They were alive. And so on the first Sunday after the cyclone – the day of resurrection – they gathered for worship and our minister wore all the clothes he had: a pair of shorts, stubbies, thongs and a t-shirt. Through the wind, all they had left was themselves; they had their faith – indeed the whole family would often talk of the strange peace they experienced as they prayed together in the context of that great wind. They could go on now and be new, better people – with their faith renewed.
Well - if the analogy holds - where is this church headed in the face of the whirlwinds still around us as it endeavours to fulfil the mission of Christ, in this place and beyond?
In scripture, wind – that same word as breath and spirit – has also been a significant image and reality. Indeed God may blow with force or with gentle breath. It was the wind – the breath of God – which brought order out of chaos in the Hebrew understanding of God our creation in Genesis 1. A strong wind - not only can destroy it can build and create.
Within scripture there are numerous people who out of the whirlwind of their life encounter God. Job met God out of the whirlwind. Elijah on the Holy Mountain, Mt Horeb, encountered a great wind, so strong that it was “splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord”. It was however, not so much the wind, and the earthquake and fire, but in contrast “the sheer silence” when all this ceased that Elijah’s faith was renewed. Sheer silence made all the more poignant because of the wind, the earthquake and the fire.
Or perhaps our response is like the disciples on the sea of Galilee – you know the story of a dreadful storm – Jesus sleeps – and the disciples get worried. We usually look at this as a story as being about how Jesus performs a nature miracle: but may I suggest it is also a story about how we are to respond to storms, whirlwinds when we believe, when we know, Jesus is present with us. Jesus was annoyed that his disciples could not ride out this storm – remember he says “why are you afraid; you of little faith”. We just so often want the whirlwind out there to stop; and we pray for it to stop. We want the complex and perhaps hard times for the church to just disappear. However, if we are truly people of the resurrection faith, the Easter faith, we would believe that Jesus is travelling with us in this turbulent time. Our family in Darwin prayed for peace, no doubt wanting the storm to pass quickly - but amazingly they found they received inner peace – as the storm still raged around them.
As I think of the whirlwinds around us, I am obviously thinking of our congregation, perhaps even our own life, as we look to the future.
However, I want to turn from the external application of wind, and our reactions, to having the wind, the breath, the Spirit of Christ within us. For this is the message from our reading from John. Just as the disciples received the peace of Christ in the midst of their fear and the rapidly cascading events of the first Easter, the spirit of Christ is given to encourage and guide. The spirit of Christ is given to be with us as we live our lives and be the church in this place.
I would like to suggest that there are signs of the spirit around us. And today we will hear two stories. Stories from CAN Community Support, and then of the faithfulness of Doug and Ethel. I trust these stories may inspire – literally a word about the spirit being within us. I hope we will be open to the spirit of the risen crucified Christ and be able to meet challenges we find within our lives and win the context of the church.
Christ is with us and grants us his peace.
