3rd Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 6A – Mark S. Winward
Introduction: The Rhythm of Spiritual Breath
Just for a moment, please close your eyes, relax, and become aware of your breathing. Sense the rhythm of your breath – in and out, in and out – not forced or controlled, but as a natural expression of the rhythm of your life. Take in air to sustain your life, and return it. Without both, it is impossible for each of us to live or flourish.
Far too often, we Christians slip into the temptation of attempting to live on a single breath: either spiritually inhaling or spiritually exhaling. At times we may retreat into a comfortable spirituality that asks little of us beyond our own growth; at other times, we may rush into reaching out to the world without remaining rooted in prayer. Whether as individuals or congregations, without a balance between an inward and an outward faith, we cannot truly know what it is to spiritually flourish.
The Breath of God
Scripture connects breath with the very life of God. The Hebrew word ruach and the Greek word pneuma both can be translated spirit, wind, or breath. The Hebrew scriptures tell us the breath of God was breathed into Adam at creation. The New Testament recalls the Holy Spirit being breathed upon the disciples by the risen Christ. So when we speak about spiritual breath, we understand it as life sustained by the Spirit of God. But the temptation is to focus on two extremes: either spiritually only inhaling or exhaling.
Only Breathing In or Out
Some Christians may perpetually inhale – taking in the breath of the Holy Spirit while enjoying the beauty of God’s holiness. Such a faith basks in a personal relationship with Christ, individual salvation, and the comfort that brings. But although this vertical relationship with God is deeply embraced, a faith that fails to move beyond it risks losing its horizontal impact outside the church doors. Some forms of Christianity may become so focused on personal faith and spiritual growth that engagement with the surrounding world gradually fades into the background, offering little comfort to the lonely, the broken, or the marginalized in their surrounding communities. Such a faith inhales… and inhales… and inhales – suffocating on its own comfort.
At the other extreme is a Christianity that perpetually exhales – a faith of action that rightly takes our baptismal covenant seriously to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.” Such a faith celebrates on social activism, political mobilization, or outreach to the marginalized. Churches may devote tremendous energy to feeding programs, advocacy efforts, and community outreach – all of which have a significant, positive effect on their community. But somehow, in the urgent appeal for action, the connection with the Source is sometimes lost. In the rush to do the work of God, there may be little time left for prayer, for deepening a relationship with Christ, or for personal transformation. Such a faith exhales… and exhales… and exhales – running on sheer human grit and moral duty, until it runs out of air from a lack of the Spirit’s breath.
A Holistic Faith: Understanding Grace
A holistic faith, in contrast, breathes deeply of the grace of God and breathes out that grace to a broken world – a world that is itself suffocating from a lack of the love, mercy, and charity.
At its most basic level, grace is unearned mercy. God loves us and forgives us not because we have earned it, but simply because grace is at the heart of who God is. The grace you and I stand in this morning is entirely, beautifully, radically unearned! Today’s collect beautifully captures this balance between receiving God’s grace and sharing it: “Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion…”
In other words, we receive God’s grace to share it with others – in both word and deed. That order matters. We do not earn God’s favor through our service; rather, our service is the natural overflow of grace we have already received from God. We breathe out grace to others because God has first breathed his grace into us. In such a balanced internal and external life, the outreach we extend to the world is the inevitable, necessary echo of the unearned grace God has already extended to us.
Balancing Grace and Action
Today’s St. Paul’s Letter to Romans puts it beautifully: “Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…” We breathe in God’s unmerited mercy by holding it in our hearts in faith, and the result is life – what the Gospels call “life more abundantly.” Such a life takes on a whole new meaning, even in the midst of suffering. Paul continues: ”…suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope…”When we recognize that God accepts us out of sheer, unmerited mercy, it changes everything! We begin to see that none of us is any better than anyone else, because we all find ourselves in the same fix: sinners in need of Christ’s redeeming. And when we begin to comprehend that profound truth of our redemption, we become so overwhelmed by God’s grace that we simply cannot contain it, and are compelled to breathe out that grace to others. Sometimes that takes dramatic forms, but more often it happens in ordinary ways: visiting a lonely neighbor, preparing a meal for someone in crisis, forgiving a person who has wounded us, mentoring a child, or simply offering compassion to someone carrying an unseen burden. Grace received, naturally, seeks to be grace shared.
Having received God’s grace, then what do we do with it? The key to this is found in today’s Gospel when Jesus concludes: “Proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.” Other translations put it even more starkly: “Freely you have received; freely give.” God has bestowed unearned mercy on us; therefore, we share his amazing grace with others. Notice that sharing the Gospel is two-fold – proclaiming the Kingdom of God and extending healing to others. Word and deed.
Conclusion: Our Charge
And there it is. We cannot isolate ourselves from the world and only bask in God’s grace; nor can we reach out to those in need relying solely on our own empathy. Instead, we see the needs of the world around us and respond, “God has been so jaw-droppingly merciful to me, how can I possibly withhold that mercy from others?”
The Father has loved us, the Son has redeemed us, and the Holy Spirit has empowered us for service. The Christian life is nothing less than participating in that divine life and allowing it to flow through us into the world. Our spiritual vitality – both individually and as a believing community – is sustained by breathing in God’s unearned grace and breathing it out to a wounded world. We simply cannot receive the grace of God and remain indifferent to those outside our doors. Likewise, we cannot effectively attend to the wounds of the world without being sustained by the breath of God. My prayer is that we grow deeper in God’s amazing grace, and continue to boldly step out into the world, proclaiming the risen Christ, and sharing His justice and compassion.
Freely we have received. Now, go forth from here and freely give.
Amen.