THE SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR

By the Rev Dr Liz Hoare

‘The wind blows where it chooses and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ John 3:8

‘May the wind of the Spirit drive you forward. Have no fear. God is love, Father Son and Holy Spirit, One in love, in love for you, this day and all eternity. Amen.’ (Part of a Celtic blessing.)

Our understanding of Christian spirituality would be much poorer without the powerful symbol of the Holy Spirit as wind. The Spirit as wind is there at the beginning when a wind from God ‘swept over the face of the waters’ (Gen 1:2). It is there again at the birth of the Christian Church when the building the frightened disciples were hiding in was filled with a sound ‘like the rush of a violent wind’ (Acts 2:2).

The symbol of the wind has continued to resonate with people moved by or filled with the Spirit of God. It is often associated with power. Images of tornadoes sweeping across the landscape leaving utter destruction behind reinforces this understanding of wind and of the Holy Spirit. Like a mighty wind was the title of a book about the Indonesian revival in the 1970s describing the powerful move of God there.

Power is also at work in John 3 because bir th involves a powerful force as new life emerges, but it is not the primary feature of the wind that is being described here. ‘The wind blows where it chooses,’ Jesus says. In other words it is in control, not us. We can hear it, but we don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. Not even all our sophisticated weather charts produced with the most advanced technology can bring it under our control. It is simply not in our power to dictate and so it is with bir th of the Spirit.

Such wind may be as gentle as a breeze on a summer’s day or it may be more like a violent storm at sea. The point is, we can only witness its effects. As with birth and new birth, we have to trust. We are vulnerable and dependent in the face of the wind of the Spirit. This would have been hard for Nicodemus to hear for he was someone used to being in control. It is no easier for us to hear either. Following Jesus means giving up control, handing over to the Spirit and being willing to be guided by him. It involves taking risks and not always knowing what is going to happen next.

Even worse, following Jesus involves following with others who are similarly learning to let go and trust! We are all vulnerable and learning to trust. One of the most thrilling verses in John’s Gospel is in chapter 19:39 when we learn that Nicodemus (‘who had at first come to Jesus by night,’ John pointedly tells us) came with Joseph of Arimathea to tend to the body of his crucified Lord. He was taking a huge risk, but no doubt driven forwards by the wind of the Spirit. The Rev Dr Liz Hoare (nee Culling) is tutor at Wycliffe Hall