May 11, 2008

The day of Pentecost didn’t begin with the Christian church. The Christian church began on the day of Pentecost. Pentecost is rooted in Jewish tradition as a harvest festival known as Shavuot, 50 days following Passover. It is the time set aside to commemorate the giving of the Law, the Torah, at Mt. Sinai.

Christians, however, commemorate on this day, not the giving of the Law, but the giving of the Spirit.

The followers of Jesus “were all together in one place” on this festival day of Pentecost when the Spirit arrives and what an arrival it is! The Spirit as a mighty, rushing wind comes upon them, filling them, charging and changing them, giving them breath, in-spiring them to speak. “Spirit,” “wind,” “breath”--in Greek they all three are the same word--“pneuma.” The Spirit is wind; the Spirit is breath. Breath and wind are the Spirit. And the Spirit is all God.

The Holy Spirit is the personal presence and power of God to make whole, to make alive, to transform, to bring together, to heal brokenness, to set free and unleash lives. It’s interesting that the biblical story begins with the Spirit and ends with the Spirit. Between Genesis 1 where the Spirit of God broods over the face of the waters at the dawn of creation to Revelation 22 where the Spirit and the bride say, “Come,” all kinds of images are used to name and symbolize the Spirit of God. And with the appearance of the Spirit as wind we are given a vivid impression of the Holy Spirit.

What is wind? Wind is air in constant motion, and an invisible, uncontrollable force. And what does this tell of about the Wind of the Spirit? The Spirit is constantly moving as the uncontrollable, invisible presence and power of God. The Wind of the Spirit is the animating, creative power of God’s presence within us, around us and among us.

The Spirit as the Breath of God is indwelling, breathing over us, into us and through us divine life and awakening us to divine truth and beauty. It was as God stooped down to form man from the dust of the ground that God then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul, a living being (Gen. 2:7). The life of the Spirit flows in and out of us as we open ourselves to the Spirit and receive and breathe the Wind and Breath of God, and we become living souls, living beings.

When it comes to our physical body, breathing is natural and unconscious. We don’t even think about it most of the time. We think about it a lot when we are struggling to breathe and find ourselves short of breath! Usually, however, we don’t get it a thought; it’s automatic. But if you don’t breathe, you won’t live! Breathing brings oxygen to the brain and cells to function properly. It cleanses the blood. Every cell in your body needs oxygen to function. If there isn’t enough oxygen, cells operate on toxins, and would you like to feed on toxins? Every breath you take is like food for the body.

Are you aware that you were created with lungs that are designed to hold up to two gallons of air? And we settle for about 2 or 3 pints! To get that 2-gallons of air in our lungs, we need deep breathing we can feel filling our lower abdomen and hips and lower back. “Whole-Body Breathing” is what it’s called. The deeper we breathe, the better off we are in mind and body. When our daughter Megan was younger and she sensed some tension building up in Dad or Mom, she would counsel us to take “deep cleansing breaths.” It is for our well-being that we breathe deeply.

It works the same way in the realm of the Spirit. Our spiritual life and formation and well-being requires us to breathe the Breath of God, breathe the Wind of the Spirit. Not shallowly, but deeply. Don’t settle for a couple of pints of Holy Wind. Fill your spiritual lungs to capacity so that, as Paul wrote in Ephesians, “you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (3:19).

To breathe to that depth and fullness, it takes some breathing exercises. And here are some: worship--private and corporate; reading and reflection on the written Word of God; silence and solitude; meditation and contemplation; service to others. These are some exercises we do to breathe the Spirit in us and through us. These are spiritual repertory practices with which we inhale and exhale the Wind of God’s presence and power. They are called in classic Christian traditional, “spiritual disciplines.” I prefer to see them as spiritual breathing exercises. They get the divine air flowing to allow spiritual oxygen to cleanse and enliven and awaken us to divine life, the presence and power and truth and beauty of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In the life of the Spirit, every follower of Jesus puts into practice breathing exercises and needs some “breathing space.” Our breathing space is called “prayer.” And when your life of prayer become more routine than dynamic, more by route than by heart, try new forms of prayer, new ways to pray. Try more listening in prayer than talking, more silence. Try praying with your eyes open or try kneeling for a change. Try using ancient prayers passed down over centuries of Christian tradition. Try praying the scripture. And try this: pray to the Holy Spirit. In the grace of God we are given much space for breathing.

And as we keep breathing the Spirit, we are spiritually energized to blaze! Breathe and blaze.

When the wind appeared that Pentecost day, so did fire. And the fires of Pentecost, of course, are God’s way of telling us God will not be domesticated or tamed or controlled. God resists all our efforts to determine how and through whom the Holy will work or manage the movement of the Spirit. God the Spirit as fire and flame will not be contained or controlled.

We can not control the Spirit and fire, but we can be open to and blaze with God’s gifts of Spirit and fire. Breathe and blaze.

The dictionary defines “blaze” as “a brilliant burst of flame.” We can not control God’s ways, but if we are open, we can be aglow and incandescent with God’s Spirit.

Notice the fires of Pentecost were given to make the believers into witnesses, to make the community into a movement. Through the gifts of Spirit and fire, we are empowered to blaze in bold witness to the living Christ and the personal presence and power of God among us. After all, we are told that Jesus did come to baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matt. 3:11, Luke 3:16).

Blaise Pascal was a brilliant mathematician and philosopher in 17^th century France. On November 23, 1654, he was visiting his sister at her religious community and listening to the sermon Pascal had a profound, life-changing spiritual experience. He wrote these words on a piece of paper, sewed it into his coat lining, and carried it with him for the rest of his life. His words were: Fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and scholars. Certainty, certainty, heartfelt joy, peace. God of Jesus Christ. Joy, joy, joy, oceans of joy.

Our witness to Christ and the God of Jesus Christ is:

to radiate with the Spirit’s joy;

to shine with God’s love;

to burn with passion for God’s peace, justice, shalom;

to glow with the warmth of God’s care for every person and all creation;

to blaze as living, vivid displays of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.

Our witness is to live and serve as living reminders of Jesus. Breathe and blaze.

John Wesley was once asked why thousands of people came to hear him preach, and he said, “I set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn.” We are not all called to preach, but we are as followers of Christ called to be his witness. Each called to have our hearts set on fire and have people watch us burn and blaze with the love of God.

One of the spiritual songs of confession we sing on occasion simply prays:

Purify my heart, touch me with your cleansing fire.

Take me to the cross; your holiness is my desire.

Breathe your life in me,

kindle a love that flows from your throne.

Oh, purify my heart. Purify my heart.

As St. Augustine prayed it:

My whole heart I lay upon the altar of thy praise, an whole burnt- offering of praise I offer to thee…Let the flame of thy love…set on fire my whole heart, let naught in me be left to myself, naught wherein I may look to myself, but may I wholly burn towards thee, wholly be on fire towards thee, wholly love thee, as though set on fire by thee.[1]

Our Pentecost prayer today is that we keep ourselves continually open to the work of the Spirit in us and in those around us; that we would keep breathing. And as long as we keep breathing the Breath of God we can help but blaze with the fire of God. Breathe and blaze.

[1] Augustine, Expositions on Psalms, Psalm 138.