"Breathe on me, breath of God....fill me with life anew...that I may love what Thou dost love, and do what thou would'st do... Breathe on Me , breath of God."
That's my prayer - no, actually, that is the passion of my heart.
I was at conference this past weekend ... John Wesley would call it "Holy Conferencing." It is a great time and a profound sense of knowing we are not alone ... when hundreds of people lift their voice and declare, "Bless the Lord Oh my Soul, Oh my soul ....I will bless his Holy name."
It makes one think about the multitudes of heaven singing, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord."
Most of you know I had a pretty severe allergic reaction - at the very first meal of conference. So I'm kind of thinking about this whole breathing thing. For me these reactions are life threatening- it means I'm going to need medical help and fast, I'm going to fall to the floor, shake violently as a result of the Epi-pen and try to breathe. It means I am going to go into full anaphylactic shock ...without medical intervention, well... So off we go to the hospital, after having my shirt cut off of me, in front of the entire conference floor (yeah, not cool!) ... and according to those with me ...not responsive for 9 minutes.
What saves me, beyond the very skilled physicians, nurses and hospital staff, beyond the ambulance ride, beyond the very powerful anti-inflammatory drugs, beyond the hospital care, beyond the seven to ten day regimen of drugs, beyond the Bishop (The Rev. Mark Webb) calling our conference to prayer, beyond (Pastor Lee, Faith, Brenda and Patti) beyond the healing love and support of my family and friends, what saves me ... I will always be convinced, is God.
So yes, God is always good...all the time. And, yes, this too was the day that the Lord had made and I will be glad (o.k. maybe a little drugged and grumpy) and rejoice in it.
What would happen to us if we were unresponsive in the spiritual sense? What would happen if we could not feel the presence of God - at all for 9 minutes, 9 hours, 9 days, 9 months,...9 years ...or just one eternity! Just one!
John, in His gospel gives us a powerful metaphor. The image of Jesus, entering the room with his disciples, showing them - to their amazement that he is alive, scars and all. Then, Jesus does something incredible - He breathes on his disciples and fills them with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus breathed on them, and their lives would never be the same.
So it is true that Jesus, the resurrected one, is alive in our hearts.
What if we thought about Jesus, the Christ, to be alive in our very breath? Can we imagine Jesus being as important to our lives as our own breathing?
Can we imagine Jesus ... being as life giving to us ... as vital to us, as our own breath?
New life - this is what the risen Christ has given you and me.
In Genesis (2:7) God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life so that man became a living being.
Job 33:4 (ESV),declares, "The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life."
Isaiah 42:5 (NLT) reads, "God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth."
What we have here is a new creation story of sorts. What Jesus did for the disciples he can do for us. Jesus breathed life onto his disciples, a group of people who were faithful to him, just as Jesus can breathe new life into us, we who carry on the faith.
I'm Just Sayin' that I find the image of Jesus breathing on me to be profound. I spent some long, very long hours in the hospital, trying my best to simply breathe. At times, I am very still, for those who have never seen it, frighteningly still, ... in those times ... I imagine God breathing with me, perhaps even, breathing for me.
Breath by breath, by slow, labored breath... and the multitudes sing, "Breathe on Me Breath of God...."
Psalm 150:6 (NIV) ' Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord."
....amen!
See Ya Soon
~Kelly
