Sermon – “Breathe” -Pentecost – June 9, 2019 Pr. Janine Goodrich
Breathe on me Breath of God…fill me with life anew….that I may love what thou dost love and do what thou wouldst do.
God’s breath brought creation into being. That’s what it says in Genesis. God breathed into the dust, into the atoms of the universe, and created love and pain, laughter and passion. God created life. God created us.
The breath of God…gives life. And when we are dead…that is what we need. The breath…the spirit of God…to resuscitate us once again.
So….what’s dead in our lives? What needs God’s breath?
Oh…too many things. Our relationships. Our energy. Our faith. Our compassion. Our purpose. Our joy. What is it for you?
Over time, through trauma and grief, through exhaustion or disappointment…many of us find ourselves struggling to breathe freely.
Hear me — God’s spirit is poured out upon all flesh….God’s spirit is poured out into you, my friends.
If any of you have practiced Yoga, or another form of meditation, you know that the first thing you are told is to “Pay attention to your breath”. This morning, for a moment…I want you to pay attention to your breath. Notice what your body does…around 20,000 to 30,000 times a day…even when you are sleeping… automatically, without you telling it to. Feel it as it fills your lungs and feel it as you exhale and the oxygen enters your bloodstream and moves into your arms and legs…your whole body….bringing life to every cell in your body.
God is the breath. God’s spirit is in you. Fills you. Courses through your body. Claiming every inch of you as God’s own child. As One who is made in God’s image.
And when you get that…if only for an instant…when you glimpse how miraculous and holy you are as God’s beloved….when you pray to God as ‘Abba father’…when you understand that your identity, your name, your worth is given to you by the creator of the universe….that’s the Spirit at work. Blowing in you.
And when you don’t get it…when you struggle to pray, and are so lost in your hurt and pain…so weak from the battles you’ve fought….that same Spirit still lives in you. Holding you in God’s heart, when you do not know how….when God seems far away. Interceding for you, praying for you…as you groan inwardly along with all creation….waiting for that day when we are free from the rot and decay that eats away at our lives and our communities…at all creation. Waiting for that day when the hardship and distress of the world….the persecution and famine, the nakedness, peril and sword — the floods and fires and guns and bombs…the addiction and bigotry and homelessness…the pollution and waste…the diseases of the mind and body…all the things that kill us day after day after day….waiting for the day when they are all no more. Waiting for the day when we finally understand…when we finally see God’s presence clearly in everything.
And in the meantime….while we wait. We breathe. And we ask for God’s Spirit to bring us back to life. Today. And again tomorrow. And again the next day.
In the meantime….while we wait….we ask for faith to trust in the love of God…which nothing can deter — not death or life…….nothing happening now, nothing that every will happen….no power or government or authority…not even angels. We ask for faith to trust the love of God for us. For the world. For all the world.
For Parthisans and Medes and Elamites, Cretans and Arabs, El Salvadorans and Puerto Ricans, Sudanese and Mexican, Afghani and Iraqi, Guatamalens and Russians, Hawaiian and Hmong, Greek and Brazillian, Chinese and French, Moraccan and Tanzanian….for all the world and all its people and in all their languages….because the Spirit speaks them all. The Spirit’s breath is in them all. The Spirit of God, that calls us all children of God. That calls us all one large family.
Yes, in the meantime….while we wait…we breathe. And we trust. And we hope. In God, not ourselves….God who is love. God who has us and holds us and won’t let us go. Amen.
Leave a Reply