Dear Friends,
I'm actually writing this letter to you on a very
windy day! The storms are coming our way and have
already wreaked havoc in many states, causing
tornados, flooding, it spreads out of control fires,
and it destroys. Wind is part of our
earth and we need wind. It's an oxymoron to say that
wind is bad. It's a fact of life we deal with on a
regular basis. As a tornado survivor, which many of
you are, wind can be a scary one of earth's traits.
Or! Wind can be a helpful phenomenon ... a gentle
breeze to cool us off, helps us to keep our water
supply fresh, is a
great source of clean energy, it spreads pollens and
seeds, it creates. It teaches us that all of the
earth's qualities can be both good and bad. Too much
or too less wind is bad, just like too much or too
less of most of life. I can't see the wind, but I
hear it howl, I see my poor Iris blooms
waning over and wilting in the cooler air, and the
trees are swaying.
The Holy Spirit is also referred to
as the Wind of God, or Breath of God. God's presence
is not very often visible in itself, like the wind
of the earth. But we can see God's presence in the
swaying of people to the music of God, we hear the
presence of God in loving and encouraging words, and
we feel the gentle breeze of love in our hearts. In
my life, the Holy Spirit sometimes blows hard. It
wreaks havoc and blows me right out of my
complacency! It moves me fast and
hard into a new way of living life, whether I want
to live there or not. Sometimes, I go kicking and
screaming, trembling with fear and crying "NOooooooo!"
into the new way of being in this world. When the
Spirit says move, ya gotta move!
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The Search team of St. John is now
relying on the Spirit to help them discern who might
be the right pastor for this church. Yes, my profile
is in the mix. But the Spirit is in charge, not
Peggy Goetsch, not any of the search team members
and by all means, not me. After working with the
team for the first part of their process in creating
the profile, I can tell you, they are going forward
with extreme carefulness and prayerfulness. They are
wanting to be very responsive and
responsible to their tasks. They are diligent in
their study of profiles and their developing of
interviewing questions, and their prayerful
contemplations on many issues. Whomever is called to
be the pastor of this church will be called here by
the Wind! The Holy Spirit! They may be called by a
gentle breeze or a whoosh of
gust of Holy Wind, but it is the Spirit who will
call them here. Please join me in praying that the
Spirit will gently move the Search Team and whomever
is meant to be pastor of St. John together. And pray
all will trust that the Holy Spirit is in charge:
Our God, Creator, God's Son,
Redeemer and God's Spirit, Mover and Shaker,
Encourager and Inspirer will be with us all.
God's peace,
Pastor Laurie |
