By Breath

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breath, Christine Valters Paintner, Genesis, psalm 104, pulse, rhythm, Sara Thomsen, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Wisdom of the Body

I woke up this morning with song lyrics running through my body/mind and found them as well in the lectionary readings for today from chapter 2 of the Book of Genesis and Psalm 104. The Scriptures say, “The Lord God blew into [our] nostrils the breath of life and so [we] became living being[s].” And then: “if you take away their breath, they perish…” Sara Thomsen is still singing to me: By breath, by blood, by body, by spirit, we are all one…

The song is likely a result of my preparation for our book club meeting today where the first of two chapters for our consideration is entitled “Breath: The Gateway to the Body.” The Scripture readings just add serendipity to the theme. Or is there more to be said?

In the book, Wisdom of the Body by Christine Valters Paintner, chapter two spends itself on all sorts of reasons to pay attention to our breath. One paragraph that I find quite beautiful and worth this day in reflection is from page 34. It is my gift to you and God’s gift to us all for today.

Pause just a moment before reading further to notice your breath without trying to change it. Track your breathing for a few moments, bringing a sense of wonder to this primal rhythm that sustains your life even when you aren’t paying attention, such as while you are sleeping, eating, or in deep conversation with a dear friend. The breath, like the heartbeat, is the ancient rhythm and pulse of life. The breath is like an old and loyal friend with whom you are becoming reacquainted.

Stairway to Heaven

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dream, Genesis, Jacob, love, prom, pulse, sense of wonder, spiritual seekers, stairway to heaven, synergy, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, the spiritual center

I smiled to myself just now while reading the story of Jacob’s dream of a stairway to heaven in chapter 28 of Genesis. When he awoke from sleep, he proclaimed, “Truly the Lord is in this spot although I didn’t know it!…it is the abode of God…the gateway to heaven!” My smile was evoked by long ago memories of junior proms (my own and those of classes when I was teaching) when school gyms were transformed into fairylands with themes like “Stairway to Heaven” – the most popular song of one of those years. Things were simpler “way back when” – in the days when parents were chauffeurs instead of the present-day need for limousines and “after prom parties” consisted of breakfast at Denny’s or just going home to dream of the event that had just taken place. Ah, for the simple life!

Juxtaposed with those images was the deeper sense of wonder at the weekend workshop just concluded at the Spiritual Center. Our land was blessed once again with a group of spiritual seekers who added their participatory energy to the peace that abides here to create an event that could rightly be called a little bit of heaven.

It seems silly, perhaps, to compare those two events but as I ponder the connection I can easily see that it is the energy of the people involved – individually and together – that makes the magic. For teenagers seeking a peak experience of their high school years, prom can be that as long as the goal lies in the pure joy of good relationships (which seems more difficult to achieve sometimes these days). Surely what happens in a weekend such as we just experienced here at our Center is quite different than the rush of teenage partying, but the depth of experience is dependent not only on what is offered to participants but also on the reception by them and the synergy among them in response to what is given. Love is the pulse of it all.

Jacob was so moved by what he knew upon awakening from his dream that he vowed to be faithful to the God he had met there and to make that place his home. May we all be blessed with such experiences of relatedness and a sense of “home” as we journey and recognize God’s presence in all the places where God can truly be found.