Pastor Note for
February/March 2023

I rarely complain about the weather at any given time, finding joy and beauty in nearly all of it. But among all the different weather phenomena, it is neither cold temperatures, nor snow, nor driving rain, nor even hazy hot and humid that rouse me to complaint, but rather the ever-present strong winds. These seemingly endless breezes arrest me within the comfy confines of home and office. How Chicago was able to be crowned ‘The Windy City’ over Buffalo, I will always wonder . . . .

As the winds so howl, I try to remember that the wind is often a sign of God’s presence in the Biblical narrative. In the account of the seven days of creation from the beginning of Genesis, it is wind that sweeps over the face of the waters that leads to change. At Jesus’ baptism, it is the descending of the Spirit which ignites his public ministry. Spirit, in Greek, means breath or wind, both which have implications of life, movement, and change. It is this same Spirit (wind) which then leads Jesus into the wilderness and eventually back out to Galilee, forever changing his life and the lives of all those who claim his name. Is it not wind that we ourselves now experience as a source of energy with many windmills now present on our own hillsides and lakeshores? Or for those many years ago that used it to pump water giving a means for the maintenance of life itself? It is a blowing reality of change and has long also been the representation for the active presence of God. Sometimes it drives us back and sometimes it compels us forward.

Let us not simply avoid where God may be driving us back to be or compelling us forward to go by retreating into the walls of comfort and complacency, we build around ourselves. It is not a question of if the winds will blow, but whether we will allow the winds of God’s grace to move and transform our lives. So let us embrace these winds as Spirit-filled possibilities as we seek ‘To Make Connections and Offer Opportunities for Faith, Love, and Service.’

Yours in Christ, 

Rev. Daven Oskvig