"The wind [pneuma] blows where it chooses"

Jesus says, "The wind [pneuma] blows where it chooses" (v. 8). Wind - whether the wind of Pentecost or the wind that stirred the waters of Genesis - blows across and over creation (over us) like the water flows across and over us in the ritual of baptism. But the word that Jesus uses with Nicodemus that means "wind" also means "the breath of God."

When Jesus tells Nicodemus that he needs to be born of the Spirit, he is telling Nicodemus (and telling us, of course) that this is not about dipping our toes in the water once and never thinking about it again. This is about submitting to something that will take over our whole being, something that will permeate all the cells of our bodies, something that is so much a part of us that its presence makes us someone quite new. Not new once, not even new once again, but new over and over and over, again and again and again, with every breath we take. And JESUS assures us that this is possible -- but we need to commit to the discipleship (discipline) that gives the Spirit a permanent place in our lives. Join us Sunday at Plymouth Congregational Church as we revisit a familiar passage and open ourselves to possibilities.