The Movement of the Spirit

The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" John 3:8-9

How many of you, like me, have asked the same question as Nicodemus when God seems to be doing a new thing? When the Holy Spirit moved me to allow my name to be added to the list of candidates to be interviewed at First Lutheran Church, I was asking myself (and the Holy Spirit), “How can this be? I am in a good place, with good people. My children are still in school. This really does not seem to be a good time to be uprooting my family. It really would be inconvenient. How can this be?” But, the Holy Spirit has a funny way of blowing where she chooses and I was called to be your pastor. So eight years later here we are in Bothell still listening for the sound of the Holy Spirit, but with fear and trepidation because we do not know where she will take us.

One of these moments happened when we met as a congregation in a special congregational meeting on July 22 to see where the Holy Spirit might be leading us. We considered the Congregational Council motion: 

To authorize an expenditure of $9,000 in support of the Chinese Ministry through December 2018. 

We had a long discussion about the merits of this support. It really was a beautiful moment in the history of this congregation. Members felt free to say what they needed to say in a safe environment. No shouting. No angry comments. No gaslighting. People stood and spoke their words with honor and courage and people listened with respect. We prayed. We sat in silence listening for the Holy Spirit. We then took a paper ballot vote and the motion passed 50/23. We should be proud of ourselves.

The purpose of this support is to provide us the time and space to have a longer conversation about ALL the ministries that happen here at FLC, including the Chinese Ministry, through a visioning process chaired by Tom Payne and led by consultant Rev. Dr. Richard Rouse. In the fall we will be having a series of small group discussions where we will be asking the congregation what our strengths are, what they might think is our weaknesses, what might be opportunities to pursue for ministry, what might threaten our ability to be successful?

In all of this we need to practice listening for the Holy Spirit. And I ask you to be in prayer over these last months of the year. Specifically pray for God’s wisdom to be shown to us, that God’s path be open to us, that God’s vision become clear to us as a community of faith.

It is good to be reminded that we are not just a people of God, but that we are God’s chosen people. As Paul rights in 1 Corinthians 2:12:

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.

Remember this in all you do.