Preview(S): Breathe...Just Breathe

    OK folks, hold on to your hats...I am about to shock some of you...I was not born a pastor.  Gasp!  Nope, I did not come out of the womb wearing a clerical collar and I actually didn't plan on becoming a pastor for a great many years. As such, my life included any number of non-Pastorish elements and habits... not least of which was the fact that I smoked for a good many years when I was young.  Now as a fellow with a history of asthma and allergies this scores an eleven out of ten on the stupid-scale but what are you going to do...we are all a little dumb when we are young.  
    For those of you who never smoked let me just say the habit is

astoundingly hard to break. For years certain triggers that used to be my "time to smoke" still nagged at the back of my mind even though I had gone long stretches of time without even thinking about smoking.  One of the worst used to be driving.  During long drives all alone, hour after boring hour, smoking a cigarette used to be one of my comforts.  
   The funny thing is...ask any smoker...smoking is relaxing. Scientifically this should not be so because Nicotine is a stimulant. It excites the nervous system and produces brief euphoria with a boost in energy that can sometimes border on anxious discomfort. So what is relaxing about that?  
    There are a few explanations. First of all nicotine is (exceptionally) addictive and taking a smoke break eases the craving making you feel relatively relaxed. That is to say you experience a relaxed state relative to the state of anxious craving you experienced prior to the cigarette. But there is a funny other reason for that:

Most people don't breathe.  OK, we breathe we just don't do it very well. Like most everything in the modern world we live in, most of our breathing is rushed. It is shallow and quick, what doctors call chest breathing. Our bodies actually need more air than most of us regularly provide.  This is why the act of taking a long, deep breath is inherently relaxing.  Usually people don't take the break to actually inhale deeply to the full extent that our lungs and diaphragm allow. This is why things like meditation and yoga work to calm us.  Yes, I know that eastern religion is full of all sorts of silliness about chakras and chi, and I am fully convinced that it is all nonsense. But, all of those eastern techniques share one thing in common with smoking:  you have to breath slowly and deeply. 

    OK, time for an aside.  Maybe this does not apply to you but if there is a young person in your life/family there is a strong chance that this might be an issue.  Contrary to what you might think e-cigarettes are far from safe.  According to the FDA: Vaping devices, also known as "e-cigarettes," or electronic cigarettes are battery-operated devices designed to look like and to be used in the same manner as conventional cigarettes. Sold online and in many shopping malls, the devices generally contain cartridges filled with nicotine, flavor, and other chemicals. They turn nicotine, which is highly addictive, and other chemicals into a vapor that is inhaled by the user.

    The US surgeon general has been campaigning to raise awareness of how dangerous e-cigarettes are for people, especially young adults.  There have been few, if any reputable, studies on the long term effects...the industry is not quality controlled or overseen and potential toxins in the vapor itself have been causing permanent damage via what is called "Popcorn Lung Syndrome"which sounds delicious but is actually exceptionally dangerous, and, of course, they are highly addictive.  Be aware and share the info.  Thank you and now back to the study.

       OK, so maybe the concept that breathing is a good idea is not

so revolutionary but most of us don't take time out of our day to stop and take a nice long breath and relax. For smokers the act of smoking inherently mimics taking a long deep breath.  What many smokers interpret as cigarette craving is actually their body asking for a breath break.  Your body knows that in order to operate at peak efficiency it needs a good reliable supply of oxygen to the brain.  When you take a nice long breath your brain actually thanks you by giving you a feeling of relaxation and peace. It knows what you need and when you take a breath it works better. 

OK.  Stop reading and take a nice long breath.

Wasn't that nice?

    When Jesus drops in on his disciples to give them some instruction after his resurrection he imparts on them the Holy Spirit. The text says:

John 20:19-22 

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

     What an odd thing to do.  He "breathed on them".  What does that even mean?  Would it surprise you to know that for the ancient Hebrews breath was synonymous with life?  If you read Genesis the way that God gives life to humans is by breathing into them:

Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

    The word for spirit in Hebrew is Ruach and in Greek it is Pneuma and it is no mistake that both of these are also the word for breath.  When God breathed his spirit into Adam he came alive and now when Jesus encounters the disciples he says, "receive the holy spirit" and breathes on them.  Some have even suggested that the name given to God in the Bible... the nigh unpronounceable YHVH... isn't so much a name as it is the sound of breathing.

In Hebrew the Tetragramaton, or the four letter word for the name of God, is YHVH.  The letters cannot be usefully pronounced as a word but, "Yohd" "Hey" "Vav" "Hey"...the four letter names in Hebrew...sound just like the sound of respiration. 

    God's breath is life, and God is the source of all life.  Jesus breathes on his disciples and says "receive the Holy Spirit" because he is bringing them new life by offering us the very breath from God's lungs. When we let the Holy Spirit enter our lives, like letting air enter our lungs, it brings us life.  

   This would work great, if any of us ever took the time to breathe.  Just like us busy people who never take the time to take an actual breath with our actual lungs too few of us take the time to take a breath of God's spirit with our spiritual lungs.  Like the air around us the Holy Spirit is all around and even within in.  Like the oxygen in our bloodstream the Spirit is the very source of life for our spiritual being. Like the act of taking a deep breath with our lungs brings well-being and peace to our body taking a long breath with the Holy Spirit brings well-being and peace to our souls.  So why do we all fail to spend the time to do it?
    I don't know.  Why are smokers and yogis the only folks around who spend the time to take deep breaths?  Most Christians I know are spiritual chest-breathers.  We come to worship services...when we have time...but they better not run long because we have important things to go do.  We pray...when things are going wrong...and only for a few moments.  We listen to/ read the scriptures...when we can find a moment...every so often...maybe. I believe that our craving for worldly gain like money, power, pleasure, wrath, and such is actually our soul expressing a craving for deep spiritual breath like a smoker who does not realize that their lungs and brain want air...not smoke. 
     So what is with all the shallow breathing? I think that we have the wrong idea about all of those things.  I think we secretly believe that study, prayer, worship, and praise are things God needs us to check off our to-do list to keep him placated.  God wants us to do those things so we can take a long deep breath of Holy Spirit to oxygenate our souls.  God does not need us to do those things...we need to do those things.  
    This week hear the voice of Jesus saying to you "Receive the Holy Spirit" and breathe...just breathe. Your lungs will thank you. 

    As always thanks for reading and don't forget to comment and share if you liked the study.