“Breathe on me…”
The 4th Sunday in Lent, March 22d, 2009
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“The dog was just breathing on me. It was kind of nice, actually. . . .”
“You know, the word dog is God spelled backward.
And all I could think of for the next couple of days were the words from that hymn that we sing at baptisms.
It kept relentlessly running through my head, except the word God got replaced with the word Dog.
Breathe on me breath of Dog.
Fill me with life anew
You know the tune. Very pretty.
That I may love what you love, and do what you would do.
The concept of Life, the breath of Life, abundant life, I was swimming in it for days.
“You know, the word dog is God spelled backward.
And all I could think of for the next couple of days were the words from that hymn that we sing at baptisms.
It kept relentlessly running through my head, except the word God got replaced with the word Dog.
Breathe on me breath of Dog.
Fill me with life anew
You know the tune. Very pretty.
That I may love what you love, and do what you would do.
The concept of Life, the breath of Life, abundant life, I was swimming in it for days.
It was everywhere.
It was all over me!”
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Audio version available. CLICK HERE
Several of my friends and relatives suggested that I NOT begin my sermon this morning the way I’m about to.
But I’m doing it anyway, although I admit I’m kind of nervous about it.
Here goes.
By now everyone has to know that I have a dog.
Jackson the big white standard poodle.
And right about now I can “hear” Bill Borchert thinking, “Oh boy, here comes another one of those sermons about the dog….”
He’s right.
Sort of.
I can’t help it.
I absolutely love animals, and especially dogs, and especially this dog, because he’s my dog.
One of the things that I especially like about pets, in general, is that when I connect with a dog or a cat or a bird (I’ve had them all as pets) I feel an awesome connection with another species, with all of Creation, with God’s creation.
One of the things I like, about dogs in particular, is that they live “in the moment.”
It doesn’t matter what happened yesterday.
It doesn’t even matter what happened 15 minutes ago.
There’s no yesterday.
There’s no tomorrow.
There’s just “right now.”
The present moment.
Many spiritual people refer to this phenomenon as experiencing the “sacredness of the moment.”
Many claim that meditation will take you there, and that when you are there, you’re in the very presence of God.
The night of the breath
Jackson sleeps on the bed with me.
It’s a big bed, and he’s usually nowhere near me.
Maybe he simply prefers the foot of the bed.
Or maybe he sees me as a “top dog” and respects my space.
Maybe it’s a kind of guard-dog position.
I don’t know.
But the other night I had just dozed off.
I rolled over and realized the dog, oddly, was right next to me.
I could feel his breath against my face.
Somehow he’d moved up on the bed, and gotten his head between the pillows.
I peeked through my eyelids.
He was on his side, nose toward me, looking right at me.
I opened my eyes wider.
He moved his head even closer!
(I want you to know that this is a dog who does not have bad breath.
So it wasn’t disgusting, or anything like that.)
He was just breathing on me.
And it was kind of nice, actually.
The word God
You know, the word dog is God spelled backward.
I hope you don’t think I’m being sacrilegious, but all I could think of for the next couple of days were the words from that hymn that we sing at baptisms.
It kept relentlessly running through my head, except the word God got replaced by the word Dog.
Breathe on me breath of Dog.
Fill me with life anew
You know the tune.
Very pretty.
That I may love what you love, and do what you would do.
Breathe on me breath of Dog!
The concept of Life, the breath of Life, abundant life, I was swimming in it for days.
It was everywhere.
It was like all over me!
The uniqueness of John’s gospel
In the first three gospels, Mark, Matthew, and Luke, the word Kingdom is used 113 times.
But in the fourth gospel, the so-called Gospel of John, it’s different.
It is used only twice.
In John, it’s all about the concept of “Life,” Life with a capital-L, abundant life.
It’s not about the Kingdom.
And John’s “life” theme comes up in his morning’s passage from that fourth gospel.
Authorship of the 4th gospel
It was allegedly written by John, the son of Zebedee, a member of the inner group of Jesus’ followers.
According to legend, John lived into old age in Ephesus, an ancient Greek city in what is now Turkey.
It was a very important center of early Christianity.
Paul preached there, and John, the son of Zebedee, is said to have lived there.
It was in Ephesus that he is said to have composed not only this fourth gospel, but also three letters that made it into our New Testament, and maybe even the book of Revelation.
This legendary authorship is highly improbable.
The gospel was probably written near the close of the first century, well after John’s death.
And that makes it a close contemporary of Matthew and Luke.
There’s even evidence that it went through several editions.
And many scholars think that the gospel of John is actually the product of a “school” of writers who had been influenced by John.
Those writers (or that writer, as the case may be) would have us believe that the words we heard this morning were spoken by Jesus himself, spoken during a secret conversation with Nicodemus, a leading member of a strict Jewish sect.
The writer(s) began the passage with the words, “Jesus said,” and then they put quotation marks around their own words, describing their own theology as though Jesus was talking about himself.
Jesus said, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that those who believe in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
They’re not Jesus’ words, and anyway, it would be kind of weird to have Jesus talking about himself in the third person!
And the tense is off as well.
Surely, instead, if they were Jesus’ words about himself, he would have said, “God so loved the world that he IS GIVING [present tense] ME [1st person], so that believers will have life.”
What we get in the gospel of John is clearly first century theology.
The words are the writer’s own analysis of what the coming of the “son of God” meant to them.
It was faith in God, the Holy One they had seen in the life of Jesus, faith that could breathe new Life into others, not some time later, but now.
That was their message.
The Christianity that I seek
The essence of Christianity that I find lies beyond the scriptures that were written well after the life of Jesus.
The essence of Christianity that I find lies beyond the creeds that are third and fourth century creations.
The essence of Christianity that I find lies even beyond the familiar words of our liturgies that were shaped most dramatically by the 13th century.
The essence of Christianity cannot be bound by the words of a 2000 to 3000-year-old religious system.
The essence that I seek must always go beyond religious traditions.
I do not believe that God is a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim or a Buddhist, or anything else, even though these traditions have pointed hundreds of millions of people toward the Mystery of God.
Jesus gives a picture of God
In the Bible stories of Jesus of Nazareth, we get a picture of the God that Jesus was pointing us to.
God is portrayed as a life-giving, life-enhancing, awesome, surprising presence.
The God that Jesus called “Father” was one of generosity, of invitation, of inclusiveness.
Jesus pointed us to a God who would bring healing to the human condition.
Jesus pointed to a God who opened people’s eyes, opened rooftops, opened the doors of a wedding banquet, offered a new experience, a new way of being, a new creation, New Life.
Jesus pointed to a God who passed through all boundaries, and held each person’s place and dignity as paramount.
The God that Jesus was pointing us to is the One who created us from the earth, filled us with with a Divine, Holy Spirit, breathed the breath of life onto our faces and into our bodies.
The concept of Life, the breath of Life, abundant Life.
We’re swimming in it.
It’s everywhere.
It’s all over us.
But I’m doing it anyway, although I admit I’m kind of nervous about it.
Here goes.
By now everyone has to know that I have a dog.
Jackson the big white standard poodle.
And right about now I can “hear” Bill Borchert thinking, “Oh boy, here comes another one of those sermons about the dog….”
He’s right.
Sort of.
I can’t help it.
I absolutely love animals, and especially dogs, and especially this dog, because he’s my dog.
One of the things that I especially like about pets, in general, is that when I connect with a dog or a cat or a bird (I’ve had them all as pets) I feel an awesome connection with another species, with all of Creation, with God’s creation.
One of the things I like, about dogs in particular, is that they live “in the moment.”
It doesn’t matter what happened yesterday.
It doesn’t even matter what happened 15 minutes ago.
There’s no yesterday.
There’s no tomorrow.
There’s just “right now.”
The present moment.
Many spiritual people refer to this phenomenon as experiencing the “sacredness of the moment.”
Many claim that meditation will take you there, and that when you are there, you’re in the very presence of God.
The night of the breath
Jackson sleeps on the bed with me.
It’s a big bed, and he’s usually nowhere near me.
Maybe he simply prefers the foot of the bed.
Or maybe he sees me as a “top dog” and respects my space.
Maybe it’s a kind of guard-dog position.
I don’t know.
But the other night I had just dozed off.
I rolled over and realized the dog, oddly, was right next to me.
I could feel his breath against my face.
Somehow he’d moved up on the bed, and gotten his head between the pillows.
I peeked through my eyelids.
He was on his side, nose toward me, looking right at me.
I opened my eyes wider.
He moved his head even closer!
(I want you to know that this is a dog who does not have bad breath.
So it wasn’t disgusting, or anything like that.)
He was just breathing on me.
And it was kind of nice, actually.
The word God
You know, the word dog is God spelled backward.
I hope you don’t think I’m being sacrilegious, but all I could think of for the next couple of days were the words from that hymn that we sing at baptisms.
It kept relentlessly running through my head, except the word God got replaced by the word Dog.
Breathe on me breath of Dog.
Fill me with life anew
You know the tune.
Very pretty.
That I may love what you love, and do what you would do.
Breathe on me breath of Dog!
The concept of Life, the breath of Life, abundant life, I was swimming in it for days.
It was everywhere.
It was like all over me!
The uniqueness of John’s gospel
In the first three gospels, Mark, Matthew, and Luke, the word Kingdom is used 113 times.
But in the fourth gospel, the so-called Gospel of John, it’s different.
It is used only twice.
In John, it’s all about the concept of “Life,” Life with a capital-L, abundant life.
It’s not about the Kingdom.
And John’s “life” theme comes up in his morning’s passage from that fourth gospel.
Authorship of the 4th gospel
It was allegedly written by John, the son of Zebedee, a member of the inner group of Jesus’ followers.
According to legend, John lived into old age in Ephesus, an ancient Greek city in what is now Turkey.
It was a very important center of early Christianity.
Paul preached there, and John, the son of Zebedee, is said to have lived there.
It was in Ephesus that he is said to have composed not only this fourth gospel, but also three letters that made it into our New Testament, and maybe even the book of Revelation.
This legendary authorship is highly improbable.
The gospel was probably written near the close of the first century, well after John’s death.
And that makes it a close contemporary of Matthew and Luke.
There’s even evidence that it went through several editions.
And many scholars think that the gospel of John is actually the product of a “school” of writers who had been influenced by John.
Those writers (or that writer, as the case may be) would have us believe that the words we heard this morning were spoken by Jesus himself, spoken during a secret conversation with Nicodemus, a leading member of a strict Jewish sect.
The writer(s) began the passage with the words, “Jesus said,” and then they put quotation marks around their own words, describing their own theology as though Jesus was talking about himself.
Jesus said, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that those who believe in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
They’re not Jesus’ words, and anyway, it would be kind of weird to have Jesus talking about himself in the third person!
And the tense is off as well.
Surely, instead, if they were Jesus’ words about himself, he would have said, “God so loved the world that he IS GIVING [present tense] ME [1st person], so that believers will have life.”
What we get in the gospel of John is clearly first century theology.
The words are the writer’s own analysis of what the coming of the “son of God” meant to them.
It was faith in God, the Holy One they had seen in the life of Jesus, faith that could breathe new Life into others, not some time later, but now.
That was their message.
The Christianity that I seek
The essence of Christianity that I find lies beyond the scriptures that were written well after the life of Jesus.
The essence of Christianity that I find lies beyond the creeds that are third and fourth century creations.
The essence of Christianity that I find lies even beyond the familiar words of our liturgies that were shaped most dramatically by the 13th century.
The essence of Christianity cannot be bound by the words of a 2000 to 3000-year-old religious system.
The essence that I seek must always go beyond religious traditions.
I do not believe that God is a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim or a Buddhist, or anything else, even though these traditions have pointed hundreds of millions of people toward the Mystery of God.
Jesus gives a picture of God
In the Bible stories of Jesus of Nazareth, we get a picture of the God that Jesus was pointing us to.
God is portrayed as a life-giving, life-enhancing, awesome, surprising presence.
The God that Jesus called “Father” was one of generosity, of invitation, of inclusiveness.
Jesus pointed us to a God who would bring healing to the human condition.
Jesus pointed to a God who opened people’s eyes, opened rooftops, opened the doors of a wedding banquet, offered a new experience, a new way of being, a new creation, New Life.
Jesus pointed to a God who passed through all boundaries, and held each person’s place and dignity as paramount.
The God that Jesus was pointing us to is the One who created us from the earth, filled us with with a Divine, Holy Spirit, breathed the breath of life onto our faces and into our bodies.
The concept of Life, the breath of Life, abundant Life.
We’re swimming in it.
It’s everywhere.
It’s all over us.
