God’s Spirit blows wherever it wishes. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. It’s the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8, Common English Bible)
A common statement (m)uttered by new pastors when they enter full-time ministry is a variation on, “They never taught me this in seminary!” Most clergy are ready to preach, teach, and offer care, but they’re not prepared to, say, fix a boiler or know the legalities of a bequest left to a church. But we learn something new all the time and I can now add a task that I’d managed to avoid in my 22 years of ministry: Changing the letters on an outdoor church sign.
You probably have seen various pictures or memes online of funny church signs. To be honest, I’ve been kind of glad I haven’t had to worry about this particular task, but River Forest UMC has one of those signs and, because the congregation is small, I take my turn in coming up with a saying and changing the letters.
Some days, I’m stumped and so just do some online searching to see what other churches have done, but I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with a couple options for January. One side now says BROKEN RESOLUTIONS WELCOME HERE and the other side side says MAY 2020 BE A YEAR OF SACRED SURPRISES. As I was putting the letters on the “MAY 2020” side, a young man came up and said something to the effect of, “Oh, I thought you’d put up something about how we should have Christ’s 2020 vision this year.” I politely chuckled but was mildly annoyed because I liked what I was putting up. He went on his way (or so I thought) and I finished putting up the letters. When I was done, I took a step back to admire my handiwork.
While I was patting myself on the back, the young man returned and yelled out from across the street, “You forgot an R!”
I sighed and turned to talk to this person who would not leave me alone and said, “What??”
He responded: “In the word ‘surprises.’ You’re missing an ‘r’!”
He’s clearly mistaken, I thought, and looked back at the sign to prove to him that he was wrong and…there it was: SURPISES. He was right. “Thanks,” I called out, embarrassed, and then went ahead to add an ‘r’.
Sometimes the sacred surprises that break into our daily routines are evident and welcome. But I also experience my share of surprises that put me in a sour mood. And occasionally, in the case of the kind and attentive stranger making a needed edit, it’s a mixture of both! “God’s Spirit blows wherever it wishes,” Jesus says. Indeed. Sometimes the Spirit corrects, sometimes the Spirit comforts. But the Spirit always blows…and usually surprises.