THE WIND BLOWS WHERE IT WILL
I like the
wind. I don’t know why. Perhaps as a child I enjoyed going to sleep to the
sound of it rustling in the trees outside my window. It denotes movement,
action. It’s a comforting companion. It is not the noise of cars or trains,
games or work – all human made. The wind just comes, from we don’t know where.
I have just
read the story of the bride choosing her wedding dress. ‘I want one that
rustles’, she said. She tried everywhere. None were available. Finally she met
a seamstress who told her she could make one but it would be heavy,
uncomfortable and unsightly. ‘Never mind,’ the bride-to-be said. ‘That is what
I want.’ ‘OK’, said the seamstress, ‘but may I ask you why you want such a
gown?’ ‘My husband-to-be is blind’, said the girl, ‘and I want him at least to
hear the rustle. That way, he will know I am beside him – and will always be.’
A pretty
story? Maybe! But one that bears a touching truth. ‘Know that I am with you
always.’ I am not alone. I may be blind. I may feel lonely, anxious, afraid.
But I am not alone. Many people, I think, feel they are alone. They sense there
is no one who understands them. If they feel lost or confused, they may reach
out for ‘substitutes’ – distractions that ease the pain for a while. Maybe
drink, maybe drugs.
There is no
need to feel alone. Traditionally, in Africa for instance, there was always the
community. A person was part of something bigger than themselves. There were
people they could turn to – elders or peers. But Africa is now contaminated by
the individualism of the ‘developed’ world whose message is; ‘you can do it
yourself.’ Be independent, be free.
Yet freedom
and friendship go together. It is no diminishment of the former to enjoy the
latter. In fact, it is the constant rustle of people that can hone friendship
and make us strong. We build each other’s freedom in so far as we engage with
them in depth.
We are told
the house rustled mightily at the time of Pentecost. A mighty wind shook it.
This was the climax of the drama that began in a manger. The Word pitched his
tent among us and progressively taught us the way to a complete life. He chose
people and called them friends. He said he would be with them always. Not as he
was for those years of tramping the roads of Galilee, but as a permanent
walking with each one who would answer his invitation to companionship. He
would give them his Spirit to be with them always.
[Pentecost 19 May 2024 Acts 2:1-11 Rom
8:8-17 John 20:19-23]
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