Sunday, June 12, 2011

Feast of the Holy Breath

Feast of the Holy Breath

Earlier this week I took part in an exercise designed to help us have a better appreciation for “personal space.” You may have done something similar. We were paired up with someone we did not know. Standing about 10 feet apart, one person approached the other until the one standing still put up his or her hand as if to say, “That’s close enough.” Of the 12+ people involved, we were fairly consistent with allowing a person to come within about a step of us. We don’t allow people into our personal space unless we are familiar with them, trust them, or desire to become more “personal.”


Have you ever had someone you didn’t know get so close to you that you could feel (or smell) the person’s breath? That’s getting close. Maybe in a crowded room, someone sitting next to you is forced to sit close, and they turn to talk to you and their face is in your face. On the other hand, there are times that such closeness is welcomed. At night, with my wife next to me, our heads are on the pillows, our foreheads are touching, I can feel her breath. In fact, as I breathe I am taking in some of the breath she is breathing out. We are exchanging breath, we are exchanging something that is coming from deep inside of us. It doesn’t get a whole lot more “personal” and intimate than that.

In the story from John where Jesus breathes upon the disciples, I have for years imagined trying to get a campfire going. There is a spark and you blow gently on the spark until it becomes a small flame. Then you breathe on the flame to encourage it to grow until the fire is fully involved. That image has worked well for me, and I still think it works well. But I am challenged to add another dimension to the the story of Jesus breathing his Spirit. The Gospel of John opens with a clear reference to Genesis 1: “In the beginning”. Now John seems to hearken back to the creation story once again. In Genesis 2, God forms the first person “from the dust of the ground, and [God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the [person] became a living being.”

As Jesus breathes on the disciples, rather than a gentle wind blowing upon a group, I can imagine Jesus standing intimately close to each individual and breathing in his or her face so that they cannot help but breathe in his breath. Something coming from deep inside of Jesus enters into the very being of the disciple. It is intimate. It is personal. It is real. It is powerful. As long as they have breath in their bodies they have Jesus’ breath as a part of them. And each time they breathe out they share something of the breath, the presence, the spirit of Jesus.

This morning as you take communion, I would encourage you to take a few moments to sit still. Be aware of your breath. Breathe in and out slowly. Feel the breath pass from your nostrils. Can you feel it on your lip, or on the opening of your nostrils? Breathe in and out. As you breathe in, you are breathing in the breath, the Spirit of Jesus. As you breathe out you are sharing that spirit, that breath, you are sharing the presence of Jesus with the world around you. And may the presence of Jesus be evident in your compassion, your kindness, your gentleness, you gratitude.

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