Daily Scripture: Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was unformed and void, darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water.
Genesis 2:(A: iv, S: ii) 4 Here is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created. On the day when Adonai, God, made earth and heaven, 5 there was as yet no wild bush on the earth, and no wild plant had as yet sprung up; for Adonai, God, had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no one to cultivate the ground. 6 Rather, a mist went up from the earth which watered the entire surface of the ground.
7 Then Adonai, God, formed a person [Genesis 2:7 Hebrew: adam] from the dust of the ground [Genesis 2:7 Hebrew: adamah] and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so that he became a living being.
John 3:1 There was a man among the P’rushim, named Nakdimon, who was a ruler of the Judeans. 2 This man came to Yeshua by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know it is from God that you have come as a teacher; for no one can do these miracles you perform unless God is with him.” 3 “Yes, indeed,” Yeshua answered him, “I tell you that unless a person is born again from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 Nakdimon said to him, “How can a grown man be ‘born’? Can he go back into his mother’s womb and be born a second time?” 5 Yeshua answered, “Yes, indeed, I tell you that unless a person is born from water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. 6 What is born from the flesh is flesh, and what is born from the Spirit is spirit. 7 Stop being amazed at my telling you that you must be born again from above! 8 The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it’s going. That’s how it is with everyone who has been born from the Spirit.”
John 20:19 In the evening that same day, the first day of the week, when the talmidim were gathered together behind locked doors out of fear of the Judeans, Yeshua came, stood in the middle and said, “Shalom aleikhem!” 20 Having greeted them, he showed them his hands and his side. The talmidim were overjoyed to see the Lord. 21 “Shalom aleikhem!” Yeshua repeated. “Just as the Father sent me, I myself am also sending you.” 22 Having said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Ruach HaKodesh!
Reflection Questions:We see the Holy Spirit as “supernatural,” and often mysterious or even frightening. We consider breathing natural—we seldom think about it. Scholar N. T. Wright noted, “The words for ‘wind,’ ‘breath’ and ‘spirit’ are the same (this is true in both Hebrew [ruach] and Greek [pneuma]). This wind is the healing breath of God’s spirit, come to undo the long effects of primal rebellion.” When John wrote that Jesus “breathed” on the disciples and said “Receive the Holy Spirit,” he used the same verb the Greek version of the Old Testament used for God’s life-giving work in Genesis 2:7 and Ezekiel 37:9.
- Jesus compared the Holy Spirit to the wind blowing through the trees. How predictable or unpredictable have you found the Holy Spirit’s activity to be in your life? Is it possible that there have been times when the wind of the Spirit was blowing, and you just didn’t see it? How (if at all) has the process of being born anew (or “born from above”) happened with you?
- The musical “Children of Eden” pictured God saying that the human he will create can “Count the stars and wish for wings, and hold a tool and think of things, and search for answers he cannot see…and dream of glory…and worship me!” Do you ever stop and marvel at the complex being you are, and the amazing gift of life God has given you? Why not say “thank you” for the gift of life today?
Come, Holy Spirit! Generate new spiritual life in me. Bring new birth to my heart or renew the new birth experience that changed me for the better and for all eternity. Amen.Insights from Brandon Gregory
Brandon Gregory is a volunteer for the worship and missions teams at Church of the Resurrection. He helps lead worship at the Vibe, West, and Downtown services, and is involved with the Malawi missions team at home.
The part of today’s passages that resonated most with me was John 3:8: “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.” This can seem a little disheartening at first–that we can’t really know where God’s spirit is going or what it’s doing.
I encountered this when I moved to Kansas City a little over ten years ago. I moved up here to be a worship leader at a small church plant. Things fell together so suddenly and perfectly for my move from Orlando, Florida to Kansas City that I knew it had to be God at work. I was like a solitary leaf caught in a strong wind, and I fluttered up to Kansas City on the breath of God.
But shortly after I arrived here, that wind seemed to die completely. After three months as a volunteer worship leader (read: not paid) at this church, they decided they didn’t want me anymore and we parted ways. The wind that carried me here had gone somewhere else, and this little leaf seemed to have missed it. It was a very frustrating experience, and surprising after seeing how perfectly things had lined up for me to move up here.
The spirit of God goes wherever it pleases, not where I please. God does not answer to me, nor does God’s will bow to mine.
You may not know this, but wind and weather are very complex. Though seemingly random, wind is a construct of complex weather systems dependent on countless scientific factors, including pockets of hot air, the saltiness of the ocean, and different masses heating and cooling at different rates. A sudden influx of fresh water near the north pole can affect weather and wind in the Caribbean. Water cools at a different rate than land, creating strong winds on coastlines after the sun sets. And even with all we know about the science behind weather, our best scientific data can only accurately predict weather about five days out–and even then, not really reliably. I’m sure you’ve heard countless jokes about weathermen being paid to be wrong most of the time, but this just goes to show how complex weather systems really are.
The spirit and will of God are infinitely more complex than weather systems. And yet we still like to think that we can predict where God will move. I’ve noticed that people who claim to know God’s will seem to have about as much success with that as weathermen. There are some really smart, really spiritual people who have been really wrong about where God is moving and what He’s doing.
The good news is that the seemingly random and unknowable movings of the spirit of God are part of a complex system that is the work of an amazing Creator. I may have lost out on my worship leader gig, but I met my wife along the way, and I’m now playing with three amazing bands that are probably much better than I would be doing on my own. (In fact, I’m writing this after getting home from playing a worship concert with one of my bands, Vessel Worship. It was an amazing experience, and it so totally rocked.)
The important thing is that, when you feel God’s spirit moving, you jump on board. It’s an exercise in futility to predict and plan for it, so it takes an agile approach to respond when we see that wind blowing. My move to Kansas City won’t be the last time this little leaf gets caught in God’s spirit, and I hope the same is true for you.
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The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
The part of today’s passages that resonated most with me was John 3:8: “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.” This can seem a little disheartening at first–that we can’t really know where God’s spirit is going or what it’s doing.
I encountered this when I moved to Kansas City a little over ten years ago. I moved up here to be a worship leader at a small church plant. Things fell together so suddenly and perfectly for my move from Orlando, Florida to Kansas City that I knew it had to be God at work. I was like a solitary leaf caught in a strong wind, and I fluttered up to Kansas City on the breath of God.
But shortly after I arrived here, that wind seemed to die completely. After three months as a volunteer worship leader (read: not paid) at this church, they decided they didn’t want me anymore and we parted ways. The wind that carried me here had gone somewhere else, and this little leaf seemed to have missed it. It was a very frustrating experience, and surprising after seeing how perfectly things had lined up for me to move up here.
The spirit of God goes wherever it pleases, not where I please. God does not answer to me, nor does God’s will bow to mine.
You may not know this, but wind and weather are very complex. Though seemingly random, wind is a construct of complex weather systems dependent on countless scientific factors, including pockets of hot air, the saltiness of the ocean, and different masses heating and cooling at different rates. A sudden influx of fresh water near the north pole can affect weather and wind in the Caribbean. Water cools at a different rate than land, creating strong winds on coastlines after the sun sets. And even with all we know about the science behind weather, our best scientific data can only accurately predict weather about five days out–and even then, not really reliably. I’m sure you’ve heard countless jokes about weathermen being paid to be wrong most of the time, but this just goes to show how complex weather systems really are.
The spirit and will of God are infinitely more complex than weather systems. And yet we still like to think that we can predict where God will move. I’ve noticed that people who claim to know God’s will seem to have about as much success with that as weathermen. There are some really smart, really spiritual people who have been really wrong about where God is moving and what He’s doing.
The good news is that the seemingly random and unknowable movings of the spirit of God are part of a complex system that is the work of an amazing Creator. I may have lost out on my worship leader gig, but I met my wife along the way, and I’m now playing with three amazing bands that are probably much better than I would be doing on my own. (In fact, I’m writing this after getting home from playing a worship concert with one of my bands, Vessel Worship. It was an amazing experience, and it so totally rocked.)
The important thing is that, when you feel God’s spirit moving, you jump on board. It’s an exercise in futility to predict and plan for it, so it takes an agile approach to respond when we see that wind blowing. My move to Kansas City won’t be the last time this little leaf gets caught in God’s spirit, and I hope the same is true for you.
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224 United States
913.897.0120
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