The Breath of God

2 Corinthians 5:14-19 (NIV)

14For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

 16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

The Message

Christ's love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do.15Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.  16-20Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing.

Take a slow, deep breath, hold it for just a moment, and then slowly exhale.  Try to relax, and then repeat this process over and over again for a minute or two, just paying attention to what you are doing and how it is effecting you.  As you do this, think about the life giving oxygen that you are taking into your body, which is saturating your blood cells with each breath, and which in turn carries it to every part of your body. 

Think about how with each exhale you are releasing from your body those things that do not support life, letting them go . . . blowing them slowly away. 

From the moment that God first breathed life into the first humans, God has continued to sustain and nourish us in much the same way.

This week as we celebrate communion, (one of those life giving and life sustaining moments which we share with each other) in which we celebrate the way that God breathes life into us and makes us a "new creation," we acknowledge a reality as basic to spiritual life as breathing is to physical life.Communion is an opportunity to gather around a common table, inhale deeply of the life God gives . . . exhale fully, releasing those things that do not support our life in God . . . and become, together, the new creation that God is breathing life into.

If you'd like to listen again (or for the first time if you missed it) to Pastor Jon's sermon, click here.

As you reflect upon Pastor Jon's sermon, and the passages of scripture to the right . . .

What are some of the ways that we can intentionally open ourselves more fully to God's breathing new life into us?

What are some of the things we need to intentionally release and exhale in order to make more room for what God would like to breathe in?

To what extent do you feel compelled by Christ's love (verse 14) as opposed to other things that compel you?

Think about the phrases in verse 16 "worldly point of view" (NIV) or "focused center"(Message).  What impresses you about these phrases?

Have you noticed that if you listen quietly and carefully that you can still hear (or perhaps sense) the breathing of the Artist?