On Pentecost Sunday

How fitting that today is Pentecost Sunday!

We live in a world that is literally asphyxiating, from COVID-19 patients on ventilators fighting for their lives to the murder of George Floyd suffocating on the sidewalk of Minneapolis.

Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 that the Spirit is like wind – two words with the same Greek root: pnoé meaning “wind“ and “breath.“ The words are pneumatos meaning “Spirit“ and pneuma meaning “wind“ (the same root as the word “pneumonia“).

In Genesis 2:7, God breathed the breath of life into the dust of the earth and created a living human being: Adam.

In Ezekiel 37, God showed the prophet a valley of dead, dry bones that only came to life when the Spirit and the wind of God blew through the valley. The breath of God brought the bones to life, clothed them with muscles, tissue, and skin, and they became a mighty army!

On the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, God breathed that same breath (pnoé: wind, breath) of life into 120 people gathered to pray and the Church of Jesus Christ was born! All those who were gathered in the Upper Room were filled with the breath (pneuma) of the Spirit (pneumatos).

As they inhaled the breath of God, they exhaled the words of God, speaking languages that they could not speak before. Heaven came down to Earth to stay! It was the "Un-Babel!" The one common language of humankind was confused into many languages in Genesis 11, but the many languages now come together under the unity of the Spirit in Acts 2.

We need that same Spirit (pneumatos) of the Living God that brought the first man, Adam, to life and brought that mighty army of dry bones to life and brought the Church to life to give US life today; that life brings unity from every tribe, every language, every nation of the earth under one common language of the Spirit.

We don't need wind beneath our wings; we need the Spirit of God to be the wind in our lungs!

Like a deep gulp of heavenly air, that wind, that breath is our strength and power to do God's Work – and to see God's Kingdom come and His will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Come on! Take a deep breath and ask the Lord to fill you with His breath, His Spirit, His strength, His power.

Holy Spirit, breathe into us today, let the wind blow, fill us with Your breath and Your life today!