Weathering (part II)

Let's say that the Spirit is like a literal wind, and we are what is "blowin' in the wind" to borrow from Bob Dylan. There is even more to say about what this means for the church.

To start with, we don't always get to see our work to friution. If the church is following its Spirit-led calling, we are blown into a situation, and used for God's purposes in that situation for a given amount of time. This could be for a day or less (sunbreaks, showers), for a week (blizzard, heat wave), a few months (season) or even years (drought, global warming). Whatever the time length, the Spirit guides us into new places when God's timing decides it is time.

But when a front moves, another always fills its place. That is what is profound to me. We are always filling somebody else's place when we enter something new. Just because it is your first time ministering in an area doesn't mean they never experienced weather before. The Wind has been blowing and the weather has been changing there since the beginning. We are always invited into a work that God began before we arrived and God will continue working on long after we have departed.

This means that somebody else will fill your shoes when you are blown further down the road. The next weather front is neither better nor worse, though many will have their opinions. People prefer some weather patterns to others, but the truth is that all are needed to keep our earth healthy, so the Wind continues to blow. The communities that make up the community of believers must continue to humbly be led by the Wind of God, working into what was started before them and leaving off in such a way that whatever front follows in their footsteps will be able to easily see the effects of the last pattern and work off of that beginning. That is how I am beginning to see the Spirit working in the church.