Good Morning Friends,
Today is important in the life of Moorings Presbyterian Church for three reasons. First it is Confirmation Sunday for the youth, secondly it is the day of our annual meeting and election of Deacons and Elders and thirdly the sermon has a focus on the fourth east window of our sanctuary. When taken together it is clear that the Spirit turns waiting into witness. So, Are We Hungry For The Wind Of The Holy Spirit?
Scripture Summary of Acts 1:1–11
Luke recounts the risen Jesus teaching His disciples for forty days about the kingdom of God. He commands them to wait in Jerusalem for “the promise of the Father”—the Holy Spirit—who will empower them to become His witnesses “to the ends of the earth.” After blessing them, Jesus ascends, and two angels declare that He will return in the same way.
Message: If you stand before the fourth stained-glass window on the east wall of Moorings Presbyterian Church, you see a moment of holy tension—Jesus lifted upward, hands raised in blessing, the disciples looking on in awe. It is a window full of motion and stillness at the same time. Christ rises; the disciples remain. Heaven opens; earth watches. Glory descends; humanity waits.
Acts 1 tells us that this moment is not an ending but a hinge. The ascension is not Jesus leaving His people; it is Jesus preparing His people to receive Someone even closer than His physical presence—the Holy Spirit. The ascension makes it clear that Christianity is not primarily about what we do for God but what God has done and continues to do in us. Jesus does not say, “Go out and be My witnesses by trying harder.” He says, “Wait… until you are clothed with power from on high.”The window captures this beautifully. The disciples’ hands are empty. Their posture is receptive. They are not strategizing; they are not performing; they are not yet preaching. They are simply waiting for the Spirit who will make them new. And this is the gospel pattern: God works in us before He works through us. The ascension is Jesus’ enthronement, but it is also the Church’s empowerment. Only when Jesus goes up can the Spirit come down. Only when Christ takes His seat at the right hand of the Father can He pour out the Spirit who unites us to His life, His mission, and His power.
The fourth window, then, is not a picture of absence—it is a picture of promise. The same Spirit who turned fearful disciples into bold witnesses is the Spirit who indwells us today. The Spirit who opened their mouths opens ours. The Spirit who sent them to the ends of the earth sends us into Naples, into our neighborhoods, into our families, into the quiet corners of our lives where Christ longs to be known.The ascension tells us that Jesus is not far away. He is reigning. And because He reigns, His Spirit is near—closer than breath, stronger than fear, more faithful than our wavering hearts.
And So, a storm is coming our way in Naples and it has been windy. And it reminds me that Wind was the first voice, brooding over waters, stirring dust into living breath. Wind moved again through prophets and pillars of fire, whispering promise into exiles. Wind curled around a manger’s straw, quiet as a heartbeat in Bethlehem’s night. Wind rippled the Jordan when Jesus rose dripping with the pleasure of the Father. Wind watched Him ascend, lifting through light while the disciples stood rooted in wonder. Wind waited with them in the hush of an upper room, gathering strength like a storm not yet born. Wind came again—rushing, holy—breathing new life into every trembling heart. Friends, invite the Wind of the Holy Spirit into your Soul Window.
Pray Lord Jesus, that You ascended not to leave us but to fill us with the Spirit of God. Pray You teach us to wait on Your power rather than rely on our own strength. Pray You open our eyes, like the disciples in the window, to see that Your reign is not distant but active, present, and personal. Pray You make us witnesses—not by our effort, but by Your Spirit living in us. Pray You send us into the world with courage, compassion, and the confidence that You are with us always. Amen.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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