The Spirit "Moves"

In my last blog post I began a conversation about change. Change is all around us and in fact is inevitable. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus was the first to say, the only thing that is constant is change. So, whether we agree with it or not, understand it or not, or want it or not, everything must change. If this is so, then the ball is in our court. If change is inevitable, we must ask how we should not only cope with it, but be helpful participants in the flow or momentum of change rather than obstacles to progress.

Let's get one thing clear, God is a movement God. God moves. The Spirit doesn't sit stagnant, but even in our description of the work of the Holy Spirit, we are fond to say that the Spirit "moves" (which is why I find the term "progressive Christian" a bit redundant...what other kind of Christian can there be?) A church, a business, an organization, a family, a person, is either progressing or digressing. We’re either getting better or bitter, we're marching onward and forward or we’re falling behind. In life there’s no such thing as coasting.

Let's also be clear that it’s important to note that not all change is progress. So, I’m not simply advocating change for change sake. However I believe it’s incumbent upon us to recognize the difference, to be spiritually attuned enough to discern the zeitgeist or spiritual wind of God moving.

To do this, I'd like to suggest that we must have appropriate relationships with the past, present and future.  

Not to make this post too long, I'll pause here but in the next post I'll look at the past and how we might use it to understand what God is doing now.

Love ya!

Pastor Ray