Wind / Spirit / Breath

There is this intriguing passage in the Gospel of John after Jesus is raised from the dead – where he breathes on his disciples and says to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. As the Father sent me, so I send you.”

It’s interesting. The word “breath” in the Hebrew language is the same word as wind, and it is the same word as spirit. God’s Spirit is God’s breath. The book of Genesis, tells us that it was when God breathed his breath into the dust of the earth that the first human was formed. In the book of Psalms, it claims that when God sends forth his Spirit, living beings are created and the face of the ground is renewed. It is God’s Spirit, God’s breath that gives life.

Now the earliest Christians picked up on this and they believed that this same Spirit of God could dwell or reside in a person. So, when we say yes to Christ – we are saying yes to the same power that created the universe. We are saying yes to the same power that gives life to all living beings. We are saying yes to the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. 

It is this same Spirit that Jesus breathes into you and me.

Today I pray that you would claim the gift of the Holy Spirit. As you do, may you be strengthened, encouraged, and filled with God’s peace. And, may you know that you are being sent by this same Power, to strengthen, encourage and feed others.

Our prayer this morning comes from the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship. Let us pray:

Come, O Holy Spirit. Come as Holy Fire and burn in us,
come as Holy Wind and cleanse us within,
come as Holy Light and lead us in the darkness,
come as Holy Truth and dispel our ignorance,
come as Holy Power and enable our weakness,
come as Holy Life and dwell in us.
Convict us, convert us, consecrate us, 
until we are set free from the service of ourselves, 
to be your servants to the world. Amen.