May / June 2026 Newsletter

“He Breathed On Them”

I am breathing. I am breathing in deep. I am exhaling. I am breathing and noticing the rhythm of my breathing. I am aware of the rise and fall of my lungs in my chest. I am breathing with intention. You might think, this seems rather silly, for of course, I am   breathing. However, I often find myself unaware of my breathing. Or even worse, often I   realize that I am barely breathing. 

This is one of the main reasons I take Pilate classes, to exercise and practice my breathing. Without this exercise and reminder of Jesus’ promise, I can find myself with shallow   breathing or feeling the need to gasp for air as my anxiety can consume me at times. In these moments of recognition, my soul longs for peace and steady slow breathing. How are you breathing in this moment?

I tend to worry about things that I cannot control. My brain seems to never shut off. I am constantly thinking about all the things I could do, should do, or have forgotten to do. Can I get an Amen in the house? Perhaps, you can relate to it on some level.

As I have wrestled with this thought for most of my life I decided to take this Easter season, the forty days of Jesus’ appearances post resurrection, and committed myself to listening for God to speak into these moments of my anxiety. I have been praying for a clear answer. I waited, I prayed, and I waited, but I did not hear God speak. I heard my own breath. I         listened to the rhythm of my breathing with intentionality. Then, as the Holy Spirit always works and moves in my life, the Holy Spirit took me to scripture. It was a familiar scripture. A scripture that I am planning on using on Pentecost Sunday, May 24th, however this time in reading the scripture, I began to feel the words. 

John 20:21-22 NLT “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.”

This thought of Jesus breathing on his disciples was powerful. I think about the men and women in that room, as they were fearful and traumatized as to what had transpired over the past several days of Jesus arrest, crucifixion and resurrection. I can only begin to imagine their fear and shallow breathing.

Jesus breathes (enephusesen) on the disciples and tells them to “Receive (the) Holy Spirit.” This is where the breath of Jesus becomes important. The use of enephusesen is what    scholars call a hapax legomenon, meaning this is the only time the word appears in the Greek New Testament. Greek readers of the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) would recognize the word in Genesis 2:7 where “ … the Lord God … breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.”1 

As a community hiding in fear, I would classify the disciples as emotionally dead and    awaiting the breath of Jesus that mirrors the Genesis narrative. This breath brings them back to life. Beloved, I am struck by the sense that many of us have not experienced sustained peace since 2020. I think that collectively as a society, the multiple pandemics of Covid-19, racial injustices, wars, with the increase of gun violence, has left many of us holding our    collective breath waiting for the next tragedy to occur. Many of us desire a double portion of peace so that we can breathe again.

In John’s gospel, chapter 20, Jesus does that for the disciples. Accordingly, in the following reflection, I believe a double portion of peace is necessary because it:

1. frees the disciples from fear

2. stresses the importance of Jesus’ breath in our lives, and

3. ushers in the Spirit to an empowered community.

I pray you will join us in worship in the upcoming weeks, as we explore this sense of Peace and the power of Jesus’ breath in our lives, and how this movement can and WILL empower us as a community. 

Beloved, breathe in deep, receive the Holy Spirit and feel the peace that Jesus offers to us!

Grace and peace,

Pastor Amy

1. See Martyn, J. Louis. History and Theology in the Fourth Gospel. 3rd ed. (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003). See also John 9:22; 12:42; and 16:2.

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