Waiting to Exhale - A Pentecost Sermon

John 14:8-17, 25 – 27, Acts 2:1 – 21

Sometime Thursday night or in the wee hours of Friday morning, our empty chairs, those 21 chairs – 19 small and 2 large - representing lives lost in Uvalde TX, were stolen from our property.

 

As if removing the witness they represented would change our remembering.

As if removing the witness would cause us to stop acting for children’s safety.

 

To whoever stole those chairs, know that you haven’t stolen our commitment or our message.

And…there is always a seat here in this community for you.

 

For everyone born, a seat at the table….you can’t steal those.

 

It’s Pentecost, the day when we remember the promised arrival of the Holy Spirit among the early Christ followers.

 

Pentecost means 50 days – and it is a Jewish festival happening 50 days after the Pentecost. So the early followers of Jesus were gathered in the one place to celebrate this Jewish remembrance when overtaken by the sound of a rushing wind and the babble of many tongues all understood by one another in spite of so many differences in that moment.

 

Five years ago on Pentecost, I preached sermon that was used for my ordination evaluation…and in it, I focused on how, with the Holy Spirit around us all the time, we might need to focus on the intake of breath. We might need to think about how it is that we invite the Holy Spirit in.

 

I am fascinated by the pause before an inhale.

Our bodies have this natural rhythm. We draw in a breath, and there is a tiny, natural pause before our bodies naturally expel a breath. 

When practicing yoga, you learn early on to think about those breaths and those pauses between the inhale and the exhale.  Focusing on a rhythm, creating intentionally longer pauses between when the inhale stops and the exhale begins and again after the exhale and before the next inhale, you slow down your system, you become aware of how air moves through you and out from you. You can regain some control in a world that can feel out of control.

 

As I said, I am fascinated by this moment of pause before the inhale.

 

Think about it.

Think about the times that have made you “breathless…”, made you hold your breath.

 

Have you watched trapeze artists – especially when a flyer is being tossed from one person to the next…that breathless moment midair? Do you think they hold their breath? Can you imagine the intake of air with each successful catch?

 

Have you been held under water (lovingly, of course) by a friend or a sibling, forced to hold your breath?  And when you break the surface and take that first breath, your lungs fill with life?

 

The Holy Spirit is drawn in like breath. At some level, I think we draw in the Holy Spirit without paying attention.  But I also think that we are best able to harness the power of the Holy Spirit in our individual and collective lives when we are paying attention to that intake.

 

Come, Holy Spirit.

 

Hold on to that.

 

Have you witnessed the birth of a baby? (even in a movie…they tend to depict this pretty well)

Have you seen or heard that amazing moment when a newborn transitions from being surrounded by the waters of the womb to the air of this world?  That moment of utter silence followed by a rattling intake of a first breath and then often followed by a wailing cry?

 

And that wailing cry comes on the exhale – breath leaving the body because it cannot be held in any longer…

 

That wailing cry touches everyone in the room. Vibrates ear drums. Changes lives.

 

That wailing cry begins with the exhale.

 

Beloved, there are a lot of disciplines that we practice as followers of Jesus, prayer, fasting, study, worship. And many of these help us to draw the Holy Spirit into our selves.

We study God’s word taking in the Good News. We pray seeking guidance and comfort and healing. We fast from the things of the world to be more sharply attuned to God in our midst by the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

But the world needs us to exhale what we take in.

 

Last week, we talked about doing something about gun violence.

We remembered those two men dressed in white asking the disciples why they were just standing around.

I’ve heard from so many of you that wrote letters to legislators, researched the issue of gun safety, made donations, signed up for action alerts, DID SOMETHING.

 

These acts of justice and compassion are moments of exhaling.

 

Keep exhaling. 

Draw that breath in, but for the sake of the Kin-dom, breathe out justice.

Breathe out mercy.

Breathe out compassion.

Breathe out love.

 

Absolutely breathe in..

 

But remember the exhale.

Justice.

Mercy.

Compassion.

Love.

Witness.

 

Sometime Thursday night or in the wee hours of Friday morning, our empty chairs, those 21 chairs – 19 small and 2 large - representing lives lost in Uvalde TX, were stolen from our property.

 

Our collective exhale moved someone…touched someone.

And I couldn’t be prouder of your witness in the world.

Because you touched a nerve.

And that matters.

 

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Repeat.

 

Amen.