Breath of Life

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Ezekiel 37:9-10

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

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Head under water
And they tell me
to breathe easy for a while.
The breathing gets harder
even I know that

"Love Song" written and recorded by Sara Bareilles from "Little Voice"

Breathe on me breath of God. Breathe your life into me and into all that surrounds me. Command me that I may be your instrument. Command me so that your will may be done here and everywhere, now and forevermore.

In this world we often get worse instructions than that though. We're told me to hold our heads underwater and breathe easy. What kind of lousy advice is this? It's a command of suffering and death, not of life. It's funny how many people, even knowing breathing gets harder underwater, go ahead and take the advice and drink the Kool-Aid.

We take bad advice for all sorts of reasons, some of them even good reasons. But bad advice remains bad advice regardless of the outcome. Listen to the good commands. Listen to the word of the Lord God and breathe the breath of life.

How can we breathe the breath of life? We do this whenever we share God's word with another. We do this when we lift up one who needs God's hands. We do this when we care for those who need God's heart. We do this when we do God's work.

By this, we do God's work. By this new life is brought to old bones. Hear the word of the Lord.

The Good Doctor

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Luke 1:1-4 (NRSV)

Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.

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Doctor Doctor, gimme the news I got a
Bad case of lovin' you
No pill's gonna cure my ill I've got a
Bad case of lovin' you

"Bad Case of Lovin' You (Doctor, Doctor)" by Robert Palmer from "Secrets"

Robert Palmer's music always had a bit of style and panache that is missing from so much music. "Doctor, Doctor" is one of the best examples before he hit the huge hits that came off of the discs "Riptide" and "Heavy Nova." "Bad Case of Loving You" was one of those songs that provided an introduction, a sign of what was to come.

The first four verses of Luke's gospel do the same thing. They provide an introduction from someone who meticulously studied the teachings of Jesus. Luke was not one of the original apostles as Matthew, Mark, and John. Historically, Luke is known as "The Good Doctor." Through the gospel that carries his name, he gives us the cure in the love of Christ.

One of the mysteries of this gospel is to whom it is addressed, Theophilous. The name itself was not uncommon in ancient Greece, and the honorary "most excellent" shows that Luke holds him in high esteem. Perhaps Theophilus is Luke's patron—the person who provides the capital and influence to write, publish, and circulate the gospel. That would make Theophilus like a foundation or publisher who provides a large advance to get the work going.

But there is one other thought about this name. Theophilous means "God Lover." In the day, the gentiles who worshiped the Lord were called "God Fearers." What if this honorary title was directed not at the one who commissioned the work, but to all who would hear it for millenia to follow?

In Luke's words, the Christian congregations of the Greeks, Romans, and Gentiles have wonderfully been transformed into not just "God Fearers" but "God Lovers" too. Proverbs teaches that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but moving from fear alone to love is a movement from God's slaves to God's children.

This is the movement that begins the gospel. This is the first big hit that signals what is to come. This is the first note of what becomes a tremendous body of work. This is true of "Doctor, Doctor" and it's true of the introduction of Luke's gospel.

The love of God is an ill that no pill can cure. In fact, the grace, peace, and love of God is what cures the ills of sin. Thanks be to God.

Stormy Weather

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Matthew 18:23-27

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”

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Ridin' the storm out, just waitin' for the fall out.

"Ridin' the Storm Out," by Gary Richrath, recorded by REO Speedwagon from the "Ridin' the Storm Out" album

Hemingway described guts as grace under pressure. Let's just say that in this moment, this moment of ultimate pressure, Jesus shows grace where everyone else is running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Let's not blame them. Several of the disciples were fishermen and the rest were land lubbers like the passengers on the S.S. Minnow and the three hour tour was about to come to an end. So where is the Lord? Where is the master? He's taking a nap in the rear hold during a severe thunderstorm and a small craft warning. He's asleep.

Just waiting for the fall out,  Jesus is taking a nap. Time to get him up!

Give him some credit for grace under fire, I know people who can't go to sleep unless everything is just so, and Jesus is asleep in the back of a boat on a heap of ropes, nets, and ballast. Takes guts, or rather, it takes confidence. More than that, it takes faith.

So what do the disciples say to Jesus, "Lord, Save us! We're perishing!" God love the writers of the gospels, I would have been yelling bloody murder at any one with ears to hear. The words Jesus would have heard from me would have made the sailors on the crew blush. What do we get, "We're perishing!"

So Jesus rebukes the sea. He scolds the sea into behaving! What does he say, "stop it?" Whether what he said was wonderfully understated or ominously bold, it must have been impressive.

Then the men who were so recently riding the storm out ask “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” What kind of man can control the elements. Well, the answer for us is easy, the man who can do this is God who walks the earth and rides the boat. What it says to us is that Jesus is God who cares when the world is crashing around our ears. If he can control the elements, imagine what God does to take care of our concerns.

Who Gets Hurt

Yeah, it's country, but it's right.
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Exodus 20:18

Neither shall you commit adultery.

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You keep telling me, baby
There will come a time
When you will leave her arms
And forever be in mine
But I don't think that's the truth
And I don't like being used and I'm tired of waiting
It's too much pain to have to bear
To love a man you have to share

"Stay" by Sugarland

If you come to this blog just to read the words, thank you, but this time please watch at least a bit of the video. Look at the pain in the eyes of vocalist Jennifer Nettles. I mean look at it. This song is the story of a woman who is having an affair with a married man and her pain. Look at it.

Scripture says "you shall not commit adultery" but why? (Pretty obvious, but go with me here...) Yes, it messes with the family unit, no doubt about it, and that's a bad thing. Families are stronger when a wedge isn't driven into the log splitting it into pieces. But that's not what this song is about.

This song is about the "other woman." It's about the pain she experiences. She wants more, or by the end of the song wanted more. She knows he won't leave his wife and it's tearing her up. She's in pain. At the moment, in this perspective, we aren't imagining the couple's situation, we're in her shoes. Because of this song's hard lyrics and Jennifer Nettles' emotionally raw performance we can imagine it.

It's easy to imagine the pain and horror of a family coming apart, that's the plot of nearly every "cheating spouse" story ever told. Rightly this is the horror of cheating on your partner, but it is only one of the horrors of adultery. But there's another player in this story too. It's the horror of a woman who is hurt being the third point in the triangle.

Here's the thing about sin, it causes everyone who is touched by it to hurt. Even when it's a situation that begins so right when it turns wrong is goes so very wrong. Know this from the look on Jennifer Nettles' face and the tears in her eyes, because of sin everyone hurts, even those we don't tend to think of being hurt.

Saved by Grace

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Ephesians 2:8-10

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

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If I should fall from grace with God
Where no doctor can relieve me
If I'm buried 'neath the sod
But the angels won't receive me

Let me go, boys
Let me go, boys
Let me go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry

"If I Should Fall From Grace with God" written by Shane MacGowan, recorded by The Pogues on the album of the same name

The fear of all God fearing people, falling from God's grace. It's the ever present worry that we won't be able to live up to God's standard. When we we fear that, we fear we will lose salvation. We fear we will be buried 'neath the sod but the angels won't receive us.

Fear not! The cry of all scripture from God to the people, fear not! God love us, God loves us. God is so rich in mercy that while we were still living a life ripe with trespasses, life filled with sin, God is so rich in mercy that we were made alive through Christ, saved by grace through faith.

The wonderful thing about grace is that we cannot earn it by our works. Grace is a gift freely given. If we had to work for it then it would no longer be grace, it would no longer be a gift. It was given before we even had the opportunity to try to earn it. Let me say again, the free gift of God's good grace was offered before we had the opportunity to try to earn it.

Our good works aren't like "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." If we open enough chocolate we won't find the Wonka Golden Ticket to get us beyond the factory gates. This is salvation by works, we are saved by grace through faith.

Yet we were created to do good works. God has made us in Christ Jesus for good works to become our way of life. So if our good works aren't for our salvation what's the use? Our good works reflect the light of Christ in the world. Our good works show God's light in the world.Our good works aren't for our glory, but project God's love onto a needy world.

Saved by grace through faith shows God's merciful kindness to creation. Merciful kindness, in the words of a famous theologian, God loves us not despite who we are, but because of who we are. Live into God's grace not because it will get us anything, but because we are thankful for everything.

Without Ceasing

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1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NRSV)

Pray without ceasing.

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We've got to pray
Just to make it today.

"Pray" sung and produced by MC Hammer featuring samples from Prince and Faith No More from "Hammer, Please Don't 'Hurt Em"

For better and for worse, much rap music deals with personal success and bragging about it. This is different. Yes, a lot of Hammer's music boasts about making money and rhymes, but there is more to this 1990 hit. It also deals with the roots of the vine, not just the fruit.

Hammer says "I won't forget my people or my town or my ways, and on my knees every night I'm still gonna pray." Yeah, leaving poverty is great, but leaving poverty and leaving everyone else behind is worse. (While his heart may have been in the right place, the sustainability of how he took care of his friends' poverty was another matter.)

Pray without ceasing, this is Paul's command. This is how Paul wraps up his instructions in this, the oldest known piece of Christian literature. 1Thessalonians predates every other word in the New Testament, so when communities were considering what it meant to be Christian, this is the first word they received from any apostle of the Lord Jesus.

And Paul told the world to pray without ceasing.

Let every motion of your life be a living prayer. Dedicate every motion, every iota of being to the Lord. We can't live every moment on our knees, but when we are on our feet, we are to be remembering the one who gave us our feet. This is how to pray without ceasing. This is how we live our lives in remembrance of the one who gave everything for us. But not only are we called to ask, we are called to listen and respond.

Prayer works both ways, and as the old saying goes, we have one mouth and two ears and two eyes. We need to listen and watch more than we speak. Pay attention, then with two hands we can respond the the call of the Lord.