May 21, 2018

Ezekiel 37:14 I’ll breathe my life into you and you’ll live. Then I’ll lead you straight back to your land and you’ll realize that I am God. I’ve said it and I’ll do it. God’s Decree.’” The Message Bible

Ezekiel 37:1-14 is the Old Testament reading for Pentecost in year B- the one we are in. If you don’t know what that means I wouldn’t worry too much about it. The point is that the leaders of the church at some point thought this would fit well with Acts chapter 2 and the story of the tongues of fire resting on the apostles and the birthday of the church. “But”, you say, (yes, I hear you!), “there is no mention of the Holy Spirit here.” In both Greek and Hebrew there is but one word that is used for spirit, air and breath- Hebrew is “ruach” and Greek “pnuma.” If any of you have a pneumatic drill or have ever caught pneumonia then you have some idea of what I am speaking. Either you can write off the ancients as ignorant and giving a spiritual meaning to a physical phenomenon, or you can appreciate that they saw a connection between the movement of the air and the breath that indicates life and the activity of God deep within an individual. Don’t get hung up on defining the trinity. Don’t worry too much about what all those tongues of fire were all about. Breathe in and wonder where God is. Maybe in you? That is what the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is all about. This week, what is God breathing into you?