The Windchime
By Pastor Brian Albert
A few months ago I was taking my daughter and my nieces on a truck ride in the back-country of Missouri. It is the land of rolling hills, curved dirt roads, echo hollows and fresh country air. We passed many farms that told the tale of days gone by. They have been vacated for some time, but their landscape portrays a story. There was one particular lonesome farm house that we came to when our truck sailed around the bend. It had not been inhabited in many years. I do remember as a young boy meeting the occupants, but they have long since left this world. It was one of those homes with personality. The porch had long spindles cascading up toward the roof. Its white outer shell was surrounded by dilapidated ‘outbuildings’; a smokehouse, well, storm cellar, the works. The house was fortressed by a rickety picket fence that not even Tom Sawyer with his wit could salvage. It was quite a scene; nothing noteworthy, except as we were strolling by I could hear a wind chime making its ring. With the gentle spring air as a partner, it was making a symphonious tone. I initially became cynical; “does a wind chime make a noise if no one is there to hear it?” But immediately I was struck by the simplicity and then the beauty.
Whoever owns the property has purposely or not left that instrument hooked on the front porch as a memento of what used to be, a home full of life and warmth and sound. Chairs are vacant, the house is shuttered, flowers are not kept, yet there blows the wind chime a constant reminder that despite the surroundings it can still make glamorous music.
What a picture of a Christian living in this sin saturated age. If you have noticed lately, our culture gets more and more alien to purity and beauty. If we gaze too long at our culture we may be tempted to think that our best days are behind us. We now stand looking at a sin sopped society that calls good evil and evil good. You may even agree with Milton that Paradise has indeed been lost. But Jesus brings the world the sound of the gospel, and he brings it through His people. Paul tells us as Christians that we should stop for a moment, sit back and consider. Consider that God has called us into the world, and when He did it wasn’t because we were wise or mighty or noble to the world. But we were weak and foolish to the world, and God chose that preciously to do two things: shame the world and glory in Himself (). Sort of like sitting back and enjoying a wind chime calling out to the world around it while stapled to a house that is rotten and falling down. It is no accident that later on Paul says that as believers we are nothing more than jars of clay that have a treasure (the gospel) in them so that the power and glory belong to God (). Our ‘houses” may look worn and ordinary, but our soul sings with the gospel to the world who listens.