The Spirit Will Not Be Regimented

Walter Brueggemann offers some wise words about the Bible - “ .... God’s wind blows through and blows past all our critical and confessional categories of reading and understanding. That blowing force that powers and enlivens, moreover, pertains not simply to the origin of the text but to its transmission and interpretation among us. The Spirit will not be regimented, and therefore none of our reading is guaranteed to be inspired. But it does happen – on occasion” (The Book That Breathes New Life, Fortress, 2005, p. 33). What he says about the Bible applies similarly to the Church. We do like to try and pin God down - but it won't work. God is always breaking out of our categories. We cannot contain the Church. The Spirit will not be regimented.