2025-03-18
Brooke Strong
Sermon Text...
Pastor Vicki McGaw
I have a riddle for you this morning: what have you done nearly 550 times since worship started and nearly 4500 times since got up today? It is something we never even think about as we do it more than 26,000 times per day.
Any idea what it is? . . . Breathe!
Many of us take breathing for granted, but people with breathing problems don’t have that luxury. My father-in-law was in the emergency room this week with extreme back pain from tumors that have metastasized to his spine. They can be treated with radiation and, in the meantime with strong pain medication.
But because dad also has COPD, managing all of this is tricky. The medication to control the pain depresses his breathing which is not great to begin with and so the doctors engage in a delicate dance to find just the right combination to address his health.
Sadly, these kinds of breathing problems are ones with which I am too familiar. I watched both of my parents die of COPD . . . literally suffocate to death. On Friday, we celebrated the life of beloved Mary Hobbs who was afflicted with the same horrible disease. Indeed, sometimes breathing simply can’t be taken for granted!
Since we started the morning with a riddle, I’ll stick with a theme and share a piece of trivia. In Hebrew, the word for breath – ruah – same as word for Spirit. And in Greek, the same thing is true. One must know the context to know if the word “pneuma” means spirit or breath. Knowing this, listen again to Paul’s words, substituting the word breath for spirit:
The breath helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very breath intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the breath, because the breath intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Paul might say when you pray, let breath do talking! Just show up and breathe!
Years ago, I lead a small group in a spiritual deepening exercise during which someone shared their answer to a question and then everyone prayed silently for person. One night, someone in the group admitted they didn’t feel like they really knew how to pray . . . and nearly all said felt same. Perhaps many of you would concur. So maybe you aren’t surprised by Paul when he says that “The Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought.”
Paul is speaking here, however, of something more than just not knowing what to say or of not being able to find the right words. He is talking about prayer in much deeper sense. When we seek to communicate with the omnipotent, omniscient and eternal God, we have to realize that we are not on anything that resembles same level! It’s like we are using tin cans and a string while God has a quantum teleportation system . . . as if I know what that is! (I made the mistake of asking my engineer about advanced communication and got a ten-minute explanation . . . and still I know nothing!
The reality is that prayer really has nothing to do with words. Nothing. Words are nice. Quaint. But real union with God comes not from words, but, as Paul says, from sighs too deep for words.
The contemplative mystic Thomas Merton was asked, perhaps one too many times, about his prayer life. His answer? “What I wear is pants. What I do is live. How I pray is breathe.” Merton’s deeply held belief was that we need to stop trying so hard to be spiritual, deep and profound. Simply wear your pants, live your life and breathe. All life is spiritual so we do have to do specific spiritual things to make life sacred. It is sacred and spiritual all by itself.
Yet even Merton, like apostle Paul, had a hard time praying so they just kept practicing. Both understood that we don’t have to be consciously aware of what we are saying to benefit from prayer. Because, as Woody Allen says, 80% of success is just showing up! So, transformative prayer isn’t about the words used, scriptures memorized, or the saintliness attained. Just show up, breathe and take time to connect to the Holy.
Last week, I asked you to commit to taking time with God each day, seeking an answer to question you chose. Did anybody do that? This week, I have another challenge for you. Continue to show up to meet with God and spend five to ten minutes just breathing as part of prayer routine. Breathe in God’s spirit, welcoming the Spirit into your body and soul. Then exhale, letting go of the stress and anything else that you are holding on to. As you do, place your hopes and dreams in God’s hands.
Pay attention to how you feel in these moments of greatest surrender, then note when that feeling returns. What were you listening to? What did you see? What thoughts were in your head? As you pay attention, you will begin to piece together what the Holy Spirit is trying to say to you, and you can begin to connect dots.
We often think that connecting with Holy Spirit is some profound, mystical event that happens only on mountain-tops. It can be, but more often than not, it is much more prosaic and routine. It can be simple as breathing in and breathing out, welcoming God into our very bodies, letting go of what we have clung to, then welcoming God again and offering hopes and dreams in service to God’s world.
Take deep breath in. Now exhale. Now breathe in again . . . and out. Simply pray like you breathe. Amen.