Word of the day

Breath of Life

Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit (1 Cor. 12:4 ).
But each one has his own gift from God, one has this gift, another has that (1 Cor. 7:7 ).
As a college student I did a summer internship in a church, working with the student ministry, doing middle school and high school camps. It was a great summer job, but God used it to show me I didn’t have what it takes to do student ministry. Too much “nerd” and not enough cool. But that’s another matter.
What I remember from that summer as I look at 1 Corinthians 12:4 and 7:7 is a staff meeting in which we discussed the hymn “Breathe on Me Breath of God.” We had just sung that hymn in worship the previous Sunday and the Senior Pastor didn’t like it. The refrain of the hymn says “Breathe on me, breathe on me, Holy Spirit breathe on me.” The pastor commented that the idea of someone breathing on you was offensive. He said it gave him the “heebie jeebies” – whatever that is. The phrase remains lodged in my memory. We all chuckled around the table. Yeah, what a goofy thing to sing in church.

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Last week Marnie and I were required to take a course in CPR. We had just been through an experience with one of our children where knowing CPR could have been the difference between life and death. A physician told us to learn CPR and actually signed us up for the course. Fear is powerful motivator and Doctors tend to have an authoritative presence in such matters. We gladly took the course.
In the small classroom an instructor pulled from a gym bag the plastic form of a torso and head. She then took a flat plastic bag and threaded it through the mouth and throat of the imaginary patient. As she proceeded to walk us through the ABCs of CPR, she eventually came to ‘B’ (breathing). She placed her mouth on the patient and blew air into the bag.
I’ve long known that CPR involved breathing air into another person’s lungs. But the visual impact of the inflated plastic bag and my own recent life experience hit me in a powerful way. Apart from breath there is no life.
“Breathe on Me Breath of God” may not be good poetry. It may not be a good hymn. But I’m not laughing at it anymore. It’s too true to be laughed at or dismissed. Apart from breath there is no life, either physically or spiritually. Unless God breathes on us we live our days gasping. Unless God breathes on us and in us, we won’t really live our days at all.

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The focus of our reflections this week will be Paul’s counsel to the Corinthians in matters concerning marriage and singleness. What I’m asking you to observe today is the easily missed connection between Paul’s discussion of the church and his discussion of marriage.
In chapter 12 Paul provides a lengthy treatment of the church as Christ’s body, functioning whole and healthy as the Spirit gives “gifts” to the members. These gifts differ, but they all come from the same Spirit. In chapter 7 Paul uses the same word, speaking of marriage and singleness as “gifts.”
In both Hebrew and Greek the word for “Spirit” can be rendered “breath” or “wind.” The breath of God gives life to the church. That same breath gives life to marriage and empowers one to live in singleness. Apart from breath there is no life – no life in the church; no life in the marriage; no life, period.
Ask God to breathe the breath of life into you today. Perhaps you need the breath of life at home. You may need it in your career and vocation. You may need it in your own soul. Jesus said that when we ask for the Holy Spirit we will not be denied (Luke 11:13 ). God delights to breathe on us. And whether we choose to sing about it or not, we can’t live any other way.
Prayer:
“Breathe on me, breath of God, Fill me with life anew, that I may love what Thou dost love, and do what Thou wouldst do.” (Breathe on Me Breath of God , 1878, Edwin Hatch).

Mark H. Crumpler
Pastor for Teaching and Spiritual Formation