(So) breathe oh breath of God. Now breathe oh breath of God.
Breathe oh breath of God, now breathe.
—from Come Alive (Dry Bones)
Holden Lake
It’s not unusual for a song to get stuck in my head. I’m in the final moments of preparation to take a group to Holden Village. So I’m writing this a couple of weeks ahead of when you will read it. The above song is in my head for a couple of reasons. One is that I just started listening to a book by Angela N. Parker titled “If God Still Breathes, Why Can’t I?” She’s a black biblical scholar and she has spent a lot of time struggling in a system that wants to interpret scripture through a very specific lens. She was even told that the scholarship might just be too hard for her. The truth is that she is more than capable and she has her own unique lens through which to look at scripture.
Second is the fact that I need a little rest and renewal. Holden is one of those places where I can breathe a little deeper, I can slip into a different rhythm, and I can unplug from the outside world for a bit. Holden has always been a place where I have experienced the breath of God and my hope is to have that breath mingle with my own once again.
I continue to learn. Breathe deep. I continue to grow in my understanding of God. Breathe deep. I continue to listen to voices unlike my own to hear God’s breath inhaled by another. Breathe deep. I rest in the words and the melody and the harmony behind those words that I shared above. Breathe deep. Breathe oh breath of God now breathe.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Steve