Festival of August 13
Faith Breaks Boundaries
After a windstorm, things are different. The air seems to be clearer. The dead limbs are blown out of the trees. Sometimes, as I clear the “damage,” I consider the benefits of the wind. Nature uses the wind to take away the things that are no longer fruitful. The limbs that fall go back into the soil and in time will provide sustenance for the tree from which they came. With the dead limbs out of the way, the sun comes in and new growth can begin.
The Hebrew word for spirit (ruach) means wind. We celebrate the wind of the Spirit that blew into the lives of our Moravian forebears on August 13. Old controversies were blown away, and a new unity grew in their place. The community was prepared for a new thing, much like those who felt the Spirit wind blow on Pentecost.
We don’t look forward to “Spirit” storms, but sometimes we need them to blow away our complacency and comfort. The Spirit takes away the no-longer-productive parts of our lives and makes room for new growth.
What we experience as loss, God converts to new vision, new challenges, and new hope.
This is not our church. It belongs to Christ.
Let us welcome the “Wind” when it comes.
Steve Craver, retired pastor, Lexington, North Carolina