A Word from Pastor Lisa: Breathe
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
—John 20:21-23 (NRSV)
When our daughter was an infant, I loved watching her sleep. I would cradle her in my arms and sense the rhythm of each little breath filling her body. She was a miracle to behold, and each tiny inhale and exhale was filled with the potential of who she would become. I would check sometimes to make sure she was still breathing, but I never imagined that someone would steal that breath from her.
Such is the privilege of a white mother with a white baby in our time. Even a pandemic cannot mask the racism still rampant in our nation. This week we witnessed the death of another person of color in the hands of police officers. A bystander shot a video of George Floyd, who is black, pinned to the ground by a police officer, who is white. With the officer’s knee on his neck, Floyd cries out, “I cannot breathe,” echoing Eric Garner, before he dies. The city of Minneapolis erupted in protests turned to riots. The four police officers involved have been fired. The injustice continues in our country. How long, O Lord?
As Christians, we’re approaching the celebration of Pentecost, when the gift of the Holy Spirit was given to the church. On Sunday we’ll be reading the story from Acts about the rush of a violent wind and tongues of fire, but for now I want to linger over the story in John, where Jesus gently breathes the Spirit upon the disciples for them to receive. Here are a few points I hope we’ll ponder:
The Spirit is given in the peace of Christ. How ironic that on a week when we celebrate the peaceful, life-giving breath of the Holy Spirit, a man was violently denied breath because of the color of his skin. Until everyone can fully breathe in this country without fear, we will never experience the full peace the Spirit intends for us.
The Spirit is offered with the forgiveness of sins. We must repent of our racism and white supremacy. We are quick to demonize the police officers without looking at our own prejudices. We are a predominantly white church, and most of us have benefitted from white privilege. I hope we’ll find places where we can be vulnerable, learn about our bias, and listen carefully to stories of pain and injustice from people of color. I am grateful for two really good friends of different racial backgrounds who are grace-filled with me, who give me a safe place to process my whiteness, who love me in my privilege and brokenness, and who help me to be a better white person. When I confess to them, the Spirit beckons me to turn in a new direction of love, hope, justice, and reconciliation.
The Spirit sends us out. We also have to be people of action. One of my friends does anti-bias training with police officers. Another friend encourages his congregants to join their local NAACP chapter. Another friend brought a group called Fearless Dialogues to her church leaders to help them confront their prejudices. Another friend does cross-cultural ministry. A church I know embarked on a pilgrimage to Civil Rights sites in the South to learn and grow. This article came out a few years ago but has several suggestions for what we can do to help end racial injustice.
This weekend I hope we will give thanks for every Spirit-filled breath without taking the next one for granted. We can pray for the family of George Floyd, the black community in Minneapolis, and the police officers involved. We can also search our own spirits, repent of our privilege, seek forgiveness, and work for the day when everyone in Bloomington can breathe in peace.