If you dive north of here on 52 for about 45 minutes you will see the landscape in Earl Park Indiana has changed.  In fact you are likely to notice Earl Park as you drive along 52 where a couple years ago if you weren’t looking to attend the Earl Park fall festival you could have easily driven by and not noticed it.  Now 87 Gen 4 Ge 1.5 mw wind generators dot the landscape reaching hundreds of feet into the sky as they turn.  If you don’t want to take the drive you can search for Earl Park wind farm on Google and it will take you to a web site that proudly proclaims “The Wind Farm’s earth friendly power is being sold to local utility companies in an attempt to lower utility costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” 

Commercial operation began last month, and already these turbines are putting electricity on the grid in a way that is clean and green.  This is just the first step for Benton County as there is already a commitment to build more wind turbines in Fowler very soon.  In addition to their mesmerizing simple elegance as they turn there are other interesting features of the wind turbines that are featured on a youtube video.  Each turbine has its own mini weather station attached to it that lets the turbine know how fast and from what direction the wind is traveling.  The turbine can then adjust the direction it is facing and the angle of its three propellers to get optimum use from the wind that is available.  The wind has always been there.  Just talk to folks from Earl Park and they will tell you the wind is nothing new.  What is new is that now they have harnessed the energy of the wind and make use of it in a way that is beneficial to the land owners, energy companies, and everyone in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

Today as we celebrate Pentecost, that day when the Holy Spirit blew among God’s people like a rushing wind there are a few lessons the church could take from the Earl Park wind farm.  The passage begins with the disciples gathered in a room and the Spirit descends upon them causing tongues of fire to rest on each of them.  The Disciples having received the Holy Spirit we are transported to a public place where there are a vast number of witnesses who are present in Jerusalem for a festival celebration and each of them is able to hear the Spirit speaking, each in their own language.  So the first act of the Spirit is in communication to give the disciples the power to address the entire world.  This is seen most clearly in the person of Peter.  Previously a fearful almost coward like character who denies knowing Jesus three times before his crucifixion is now empowered to speak of Christ’s Lordship and the saving grace we receive through him in front of a great crowd. 

The wind of the Spirit blows among the disciples and caught by the wind they are carried out into the world to proclaim God’s message.  We tend to think about the wind of the Holy Spirit being a Pentecost phenomena.  For most of us the only time we even give the Spirit much thought is on Pentecost but the significance of the Spirit on Pentecost is not that this is the first time the Spirit appears.  Nor is it that this is the last time we hear of the Holy Spirit.  It is not like Pentecost is a one time shot for the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit by virtue of being one of the three ways we experience God has been around since the beginning.  Granted they are few and far between but we even have accounts of the Holy Spirit at work in the Old Testament.  So like the wind in Earl Park the wind of the Holy Spirit has always been there.  What makes Pentecost so noteworthy is this is the first time the Holy Spirit had been received in such a big way.  If you will this was the fist time the church caught the Spirit in such a big way. 

The other remarkable thing about the Pentecost story is the way the disciples allow themselves to be used by the Spirit.  They had been prepared for the Spirit’s arrival by Jesus who before going up to heaven told them to look for the Spirit to arrive.  There is no doubt the wind of the Spirit has amazing power to change and to direct the disciples behavior but the disciples do a good job in allowing the Spirit to use them.  The disciples go undeterred and keep on preaching even when there are some who accuse them of being drunk.  Like the wind turbines in Earl Park they have positioned themselves in such a way as to make the most of the power given to them by the Holy Spirit. 

So here we are today in the church the result of the events on that first Pentecost.  I think the reminder in all of this for us today is to be ready to receive the Spirit.  We know that the Spirit is with us, God’s Spirit has claimed us in the waters of baptism, God’s Spirit has always been with us and God’s Spirit is here with us today.  It is not that we need the Spirit to descend on us again it is that we need to capture the wind of the Spirit that blows still.  We need to do a better job of harnessing the Spirit’s energy and making use of the Spirit’s power as it blows among us.  I don’t know of any windmills that harness the winds of the Spirit but do know that if we want to make better use of the Spirit’s power then we need to let the Spirit make better use of us.  Like the windmills in Earl Park we need to position ourselves in such a way that we are able to tap into God’s Spirit and allow God to move us.  This may mean that we need to turn around because the wind is blowing us in a different direction.  This may mean we need to make some other slight adjustments to the way we do things to allow the Spirit to move us more efficiently.  

Again God’s Holy Spirit is here, it is with us already and as would be followers of Christ we need to look for that Spirit, listen for the sound of the wind and position ourselves in such a way as to allow the Spirit to blow among us as the Spirit will. As good as all that sounds this can be a very dangerous proposition which is why I suspect the Holy Spirit doesn’t get as much press in the Presbyterian Church as the other two parts of the Triune God.  We Presbyterians like to do things decently and in order but wind is inherently messy and unpredictable.  Just stand outside on a windy day and try to keep your hair from being a blown mess.  Just talk to the folks whose lives have been upset by the series of spring storms across the country.  Just look at the iconic picture of Marylyn Monroe holding her dress down as the wind blows it up.  Don’t look at it too long.  Our allowing the Spirit to engage us and move us is not always going to be nice, orderly, or even proper because the Spirit moves like the wind blowing into our lives sometimes creating chaos out of the order we think we have created, but always with the will and purpose of God behind it desiring to move us in the direction of greater faithfulness. 

The 12th-century mystic, Hildegard of Bingen, once told the following parable: “Listen, there was once a king sitting on his throne. Around him stood great and wonderfully beautiful columns ornamented with ivory, bearing the banners of the king with great honor. Then it pleased the king to raise a small feather from the ground and he commanded it to fly. The feather flew, not because of anything in itself but because the air bore it along. Thus, I am a feather on the breath of God.”

We worship the God who is enthroned in heaven but it is the same God who commands us to fly and on whose breath we take our flight and are carried into motion.  On this Day of Pentecost may we not pray so much for the Holy Spirit to come and blow among us once again but may we pray to feel and experience anew the wind of the Spirit that blows among us still.  Let us also as we pray, be sure that we have positioned ourselves in such a way as to allow the Spirit to use us to or fullest potential.  May we make whatever adjustments big or small as individuals and as a congregation to capture the wind of the Spirit and use it, allow it to use us, to our fullest potential so that we may be empowered to share God’s good news with all the world.  Amen.