For those of us in the Northeastern United States, Winter has arrived! Big time. Gusty blasts from the North Wind bend us double and take our breath…and that’s just in the parking lot. Lucy the Infamous Cat is thoroughly dis-gusted, and pouts at her confinement. It’s a time to hunker down in our tribal groups and tell the Old Stories about a remembered warm wind of God…
Isaiah of Babylon spoke a holy word to the disgusted remnant of Captive Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine…I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you.” (43:1-5) In their bleak place, Exiled Israel yearned for a word of community development: if Yahweh really cares, how then are we in this strange land? How do we remember the Wind of God?
Such a wind must have blown over those Samaritans when they heard the fullness of the Gospel. Country cousins of the “proper” Jews, they also dwelt in a land where God wasn’t expected. How welcome would they be within the ranks of the new Church? Then came Peter and John from Jerusalem itself (Acts 8:14-17) , and a new community was included by the gift of the Spirit. Here is a turning point: followers of Jesus were now seeing themselves as more than a Jewish self-help group. A breath of fresh air validates our experiential faith.
John the Baptizer called people to turn around and re-think who they were with God. When folks wondered if he were Messiah, John pointed to Jesus: “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary…” (Luke 3:16-17) God’s RUACH (breath) is the agent of cleansing, separating out the trite, the tired and the tawdry. Robert M. Brearley reminds, “When the line of downtrodden and sin-sick people formed in hopes of new beginnings through a return to God, Jesus joined them. At his baptism, he identified with the damaged and broken [ones] who needed God.” (FEASTING on the WORD, C1, page 236)
Epiphany is the season for receiving signs of Emmanuel, and the Holy Wind is one of them. Set your sails, and see where it takes you! It may take your breath away….
God Bless Us, Every One. Horace Brown King
My thoughts on scripture lessons for the coming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this space on Facebook, or by linking to horacebrownking.
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