The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.” So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,” says the Lord

This is one of my all time favorite scriptures.  Can’t you just imagine this scripture with all of its wind and breath and glorious imagery?  Can you imagine the prophet appearing in dry land to be told to give these bones breath?  This means that by the very act of breathing we are saying God’s name, living God’s world and being God.  By the very act of breathing we are creating a sacred act.

Wow! This means that all breath is sacred and we are all in that thin space with each other…doesn’t matter what you believe, how you are, what makes you up, what your identity is or which divine being you know.  This means that no matter what God is living through you and we are all part of God. Just by breathing.  In and out….in and out…in and out….

There are a few options now about where you would like to go in your devotion this morning.  First of all, you can breathe. Just breathe. In and out…intentionally…listening to your breath.  In and out…in and out…

You are more than welcome to listen to some music about just this thing…here is one option…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dAmUgKzyhs

Or perhaps you want to go a bit more secular…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPz3YaIJkjQ

That’s cool too.

Or if you have a chunk of 15 minutes and want to get all theological you could go here to get your theology geek on…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Dbklupf5AQ

So many options! Take a minute to breathe first.

Peace,

Court