Does the Wind Blow? Yes, but It Helps to Ask

In North Texas, we rarely have to ask the wind to blow; it has a mind, regularity, and velocity all its own—just ask any allergy sufferer. During the summer, we occasionally have “ozone alert days,” when pollution and haze hang in the air due to a lack of wind. But for the most part, because of where DFW is positioned geographically, we receive steady winds: from the northwest in waves during the winter and generally from the south and Gulf southwest the rest of the year. We rarely have to ask.

This Sunday is Pentecost, when we remember the blowing of the wind—the Spirit, the breath of God—into the lives of the believers gathered in prayer in an upper room somewhere in Jerusalem. We imagine it as a dramatic moment where, “suddenly,” the wind began to blow, the believers were animated, and they began speaking in languages not their own. The excitement was bubbling over in the crowd.

But I think there was a precursor to that rush of transformation in their lives. I think they asked for it.

Jesus had told his disciples that he would ask the Father to send them another Companion—one who would be with them forever (John 14:16). He also told the disciples and other believers to go to that upper room in Jerusalem and wait until the Spirit came, when they would be filled with “power from heaven” (Luke 24:49). I can only imagine that as they waited, they prayed ... and they asked precisely for that gift.

Pentecost, like Christmas and Easter, is not a spectacle event or remembrance to take in from the mezzanine. It is, every year, an opportunity to be a participant—especially if our lives feel like an ozone alert day: still and going nowhere. Jesus has asked the Creator of the universe to send a Companion—the Spirit—to blow into each one of our lives and move us in new and live-giving directions.

But it helps to ask.

Connecting God and Grace to Self and Community,

Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor