Just Stop.... and Breathe!

I begin with words from Luke 21: 25-26

25 “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 26 People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

34 “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place and to stand before the Son of Man.”

One of the more humbling things about getting older is realizing that you’ve started to embrace things you used to make fun of. Things like increasing the font size on your cell phone, taking longer to get up and down the stairs, and going to bed at 9:30.

Ten years ago, if you told me I would be doing meditation as a place to find quiet from all the noise in my own head, I would have laughed in your face. 

When I started meditation, concentrating on breathing in and breathing out seemed absurd.  After all, I have been doing just that all of my life – without having to give it a single thought. 

But at this moment in time, as we try to catch our breath with all that in transpiring around the world and within our own congregation, I find myself becoming particularly interested in the word” breath” – in a Biblical sense.

I am bringing this up because there have been several times over the past week where anger has found me struggling to just breathe.

Most of you know that I am a “lectionary reflector” because, week after week, you sit patiently and listen to my thoughts on the readings prescribed for that Sunday. But, today, I am consumed with the opening apocalyptic thoughts which keep rolling through my head.

Apocalyptic writings tend to bring fear to most people.  But did you know that their original intention was just the opposite?  They were originally written to bring comfort and calm to those living in tumultuous times.  To help them regulate their thoughts and, believe it or not, calm their anxious breathing.

The verses quoted in the opening are significant, not because we seem to be living in some apocalyptic times, but because of the way our breath can be slowed up or caught in our throats when we read them.

But breath has played an important part in our faith tradition.  God breathed into dust to create human beings.  Ezekiel was given the breath to breathe upon dried bones, bringing them dancing back to life. And, of course, how when Jesus died on the cross it was his last and final breath in which he gave up his spirit and then, locked in fear in the upper room, he breathed on his disciples and said “receive the Holy Spirit”.

So, in the opening text, when it says People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, the following thought came to mind.

This passage is an exact description of how so may of us are feeling at this moment. We are breathing the life out of ourselves from fear and foreboding over what is to come.  A future, over which we have little control - is turning us into people who can forget to breathe.

I am afraid of so many things…. being left alone, getting sick, the political climate, active shooter situations which are becoming more common right here in our own cities, my grandchildren making quick choices which might have lasting implications…. you name it.  They all clamor for space in my head in the middle of the night.

But, in the moment of quiet breaths, none of those things (with the exception of shootings which I am just hearing has occurred at a 4th of July parade in Chicago) are happening at this moment of breathing in and breathing out.

So, I invite you, to consider what are you afraid of? I mean, really afraid of.

And to think – is any of that happening right now in this moment.

Whatever you fear, I want to give you this apocalyptic message – whatever your fears are – they may be real, but they are not the most real thing.  

Now, I ask you to remember that Jesus said “do not be afraid…do not worry about what the future holds”, or do not miss out on what is most real in this moment.  I believe Jesus was inviting us into what we now call mindfulness, inviting us to be present to our breath in the present moment because God is always present to us in the present moment.

But I am not a fool, I may still get sick, or my grandchildren might screw up in a way that forever changes their lives. Things may very well continue to get worse, especially for those who have the least amount of power in our current world.

And, faith doesn't mean that the bad things we fear won’t happen in the future, faith just means that in the midst of all of it, we have access to God in this moment and this breath.  We get to slow down and see a hundred tiny beautiful gifts in every moment –things like the particular green of the leaves right now, the flowers blooming in the front yard, the sound of baby birds as they start to leave the nest and, yes, the taste of bread and wine which we shared last Sunday.

So, when the fear and foreboding of what may come starts to shorten your breath, try to concentrate on what is so much bigger – the goodness of God in the stories of our ancestors and a faith which has endured and prevailed.

And you can return over and over to this as many times as you need to - the knowledge that God is already present in the future you are worried about and none of the things you fear about the future are as real as this present moment.

This moment, as you sit reading, this is all we have. The air you are breathing right now, the room you are in right now, the people you are with right now. Here and now Christ is among us bringing peace.  He is still breathing on us and saying receive the holy spirit.

Let not fear and foreboding keep us from breathing that in.

My meditation mantra is “God breathe in me the breath I breathe”.  I share it with you and hope it will be calming.

Amen

Pastor Beryl

The inspiration for this week’s blog comes from Nadia Boltz-Weber (an ordained Lutheran Pastor, founder of House for All Sinners & Saints in Denver, CO) and Richard Rhor, OFM (an American Franciscan priest and writer on spirituality based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.)  I have been following their writings for about nine years now.  They may be a little “out there” for some Christians, but they tell it like it is, in a world and time which is in dire need of hearing some truths.