The Breath-Giver

Breath of God

Stop and think about your next breath. Where does it come from? It is a gift from God to you.

Covid 19 is a malevolent breath-stealer; robbing life from precious loved ones and communities and economies but our God is a breath-giver (Isaiah 42:5).

At the beginning, the Spirit blew over the chaos and our world was born. At the beginning, God breathed his breath into Adam. It all started with a breath from our loving God.

As I’ve prayed during this lockdown time, I’ve been struck that Jesus walked through locked doors. He came to his scared disciples and he breathed his Spirit on them.

Today, we can bring our shrivelled souls to the one who brings dry bones to life and ask him to breathe his life-giving, comforting breath over our world and into our homes.

Today, we can return that breath to him in with lives lived in worship and prayer. As George Herbert wrote so beautifully, prayer is “God's breath in man returning to his birth”

Here is a prayer that I wrote recently after walking the Cornish cliffs in the picture just before lockdown began and a short talk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M0MePydueQ) that I gave last week at my church in Hampton Wick in case either are helpful for you.

With love,

Kate

Breathe on me, breath of God

Ruach, breath of God, you hovered over emptiness,

Breathe on me, breath of God!

You carved the craggy cliffs out of nothingness

You knew I’d love to climb them

Breathe on me.

Father, you breathed dust to life

Into this spiral of cells and sinews and longings and love and fingers and toes and grace and smiles and tears that you treasure

Now you fill it all.

 Jesus, you breathed – like me

You gasped for air carrying that cross

Until the day you breathed your last

So that my final breath is not my end.

 Ever-loving, life-giving, ever-living Ruach

Hover over my chaos

Create your image in me

Breath of God, breathe on me.