The Winds of the Almighty
“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (Jesus, speaking in John 3:8). Indeed, wind is invisible, transparent, uncontrollable, not packageable or saleable. “Proving” its existence can be quite tricky. Nevertheless, the wind has immense power, both to destroy and to be harnessed for various uses.
In the recently celebrated Pentecost festival, we were told it began suddenly, with “a sound like the blowing of a violent wind,” (Acts 2:1), as the Spirit arrived amongst them. The wind serves as both an analogy, and even as a vehicle to carry the Spirit. The connection may become clearer by looking at some linguistics.
For the Greek-speaking disciples, the connection was self-evident. The root word is pneuma, which means all of wind, breath, air and spirit. The Holy Spirit is agios pneuma. In many western European languages, the connection is not so clear. In English, we have derivations of pneuma, such as pneumatic and pneumonia, and through Latin, to “spirit,” which relate to breath, such as respiration or inspiration, but it is not all that evident. Basically, we have to glue the connection together by going back to the language of the Greek New Testament.
At this time on the calendar, we stand at the “hinge” point of the Church Year. The first part, the history of the incarnate Jesus Christ on earth has been told. The door now opens to the second part, which guides us on our own pilgrimage on earth. Like the disciples on that first Christian Pentecost, we are going to need the wind of the Holy Spirit to sail us through this. It is not accidental that Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, with its Divine gift of the Holy Spirit, is that hinge. It is a gift which keeps on giving, a thought which seems to elude many Christians.
The original disciples, of course, had been on an incredible roller-coaster ride. Having failed to pay attention to what Jesus was teaching, due mostly to their own pre-conceived notions of what a Messiah would do, the disciples were in traumatic shock and grief when the crucifixion happened. While Jesus had anticipated it, they were totally surprised, distraught and disoriented. The events of Easter morning and the following weeks again totally surprised them; grief replaced by euphoria, mitigated by confusion. Jesus’ departure on Ascension Day once again surprised them, but they seemed to have started paying attention better and actually reacted reasonably. When the Spirit arrived ten days later on Pentecost, the disciples were not (for once) blindsided, and though not predicting the manner in which the Spirit arrived, were nevertheless expecting the gift. Peter, who had reacted to the crucifixion with despair and desertion, was ready this time to accurately explain to the curious crowd which had gathered, the facts of what had happened.
Organizing this theologically took the Church several centuries. But the existential gift of the Spirit has never left since that first arrival on Pentecost. Like many ongoing gifts, the recipients have not always known how to relate or how to function in harmony with the Spirit. Most importantly, many fail to understand just how central and comprehensive the Holy Spirit is in life, both individually and collectively.
Which takes us back to the Greek pneuma. Remember that the word means both air and spirit. Consider that air is the most basic element of life. We can live perhaps a number of weeks without food, days without water, but only minutes without air. The sending of the Holy Spirit is deliberately meant to reflect this. He has not come to us as a consultant to call on occasionally, a Sunday morning presence or even a leader to give directions. The gift of the Holy Spirit is equal in intensity to the gift of air. Without his abiding, continual presence permeating our being, we will die spiritually in short order. When we contemplate God’s miracles, we tend to focus on those of healing or on apparitions. Yet having air available across the planet for us to access is perhaps the most astounding miracle of all, equaled only by the Resurrection itself. Both are the free gift of life from God. Together with the Father’s gift of creation itself, they make the trinity of basic gifts which constitute life for us.
St. Gregory Palamas, a medieval theologian who we ignore to our detriment, makes the connection. Our very breathing is coordinated with our spiritual exercise. Even when we sleep, breathing continues, just as the Spirit continues to permeate us. For those who love God, this is of tremendous comfort, to know that the Holy Spirit is integral to our existence, far beyond simply “walking with us” or being available for times of prayer. To be “spiritual” is to exist with the Spirit the way you exist with air. Air is always around you, and in the act of breathing, it is brought into you, to be distributed by your body mechanisms as needed. Likewise, the Spirit also interacts with your spiritual action, continuously, to sustain you. Air is separate from you, but completely and actively incorporated into your being. The Spirit acts in you in the same manner.
Having a theology of the Spirit which recognizes this forms a worldview quite opposite the common dualism of Western thought. It makes “pro-life” to be more than supporting legislation to outlaw abortion and euthanasia. It is instead the participation in the acts God gives us grace to do. It enables us to have a morality which continuously and consistently seeks to support the fullness of life for all people. For example, to oppose abortion but favor the current U.S. policy of killing thousands of children by bombing and mass starvation is a denial of the life-affirming gift of the Spirit given to you. Our spiritual life is meant to be in cooperation with the Spirit who infuses us. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev. 2:17), as John quotes Jesus saying to each of the churches in the ancient Diocese of Ephesus. Our morality, our actions, our worldview, our very being are not separate “spiritual” functions which activate on request. They are as part of us as breathing.
Nor is this simply about global or national policies, over which we as individuals have some control only in conjunction with large numbers of other people. It applies directly as well to daily life, the continual decisions we make about matters great and small. It is the nature of God, who loves us, to care enough to send his Spirit into the micro world we each live in, a comprehensive God, who misses nothing and no one in his care. The Spirit, moving in each of us “who has an ear” also loves the rest of his creation with the same micro intensity, moving each of us with the Spirit, as we live and breathe, to reach toward that same intensity of care for the creation around us, including our fellow humans, who God sees without “tribe or nation” to divide us.
The Spirit is conservative only in the sense of wanting to conserve his beloved creation, liberal only in the sense of liberally applying his love and care. As we begin the half of the Church Year focused on our life and work, and the Sundays march forward from their commissioning at Pentecost, may the Holy Spirit be our inspiration as we do our liturgy, the work through the days before us, in the constant respiration of the Spirit around us and within us.
To what U.S. policy are you specifically referring when you say: “ For example, to oppose abortion but favor the current U.S. policy of killing thousands of children by bombing and mass starvation is a denial of the life-affirming gift of the Spirit given to you”?