Are You Breathing?

I just want to check in and ask you, are you breathing?

Really, are you breathing?

The events of the last four days have been so mind-boggling that it is important we remember to breathe. Not simply the short, shallow breaths of survival, but the deep, full-bodied breaths that fill our lungs and expand our rib cage, reminding us that we are still alive.

This is the breath of life, the prana, the ruach elohim, the pneuma. The very essence of the Divine that moves within us with every inhalation, grounding us in the here and now, despite the chaos swirling around us. This sacred breath is a lifeline, a thread connecting us to the Source of all Being, to each other, and to the wider world. It is a gift we often take for granted, yet it sustains us in ways that words can scarcely convey.

In this moment, when the fabric of our society is being dismantled, when the world seems to be collapsing under the weight of injustice, and the horrors we witness leave us gasping, it can feel as though the air itself has been stolen from our lungs. And yet, even in the face of despair, the invitation to breathe remains. 

So I invite you to take a deep breath….

Each breath is your protest against despair, a refusal to be silenced, a commitment to live and work for justice no matter the shock and awe of it all.  (Remember, that is the point.)

The very act of breathing deeply can center us in a reality that transcends the violence and uncertainty of our times. Breath reconnects us to the Spirit who hovered over the waters at creation, the Spirit who animated dry bones in the valley, the Spirit who descended as tongues of fire, igniting courage and vision in the hearts of those called to resist the despair of their reality where the powers and principalities of their time meted out oppression and violence daily.

"The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life." Job 33:4

When we breathe, we remind ourselves that we are not merely passive observers in the unfolding drama of history. We are active participants, bearers of the Divine image, called to embody the realm of God—a realm where justice rolls down like waters, where peace is not an abstraction but a lived reality, where equity dismantles systems of privilege and restores dignity to the marginalized.

When we breathe, we are always practicing heaven now.

Our breath equips us for resistance. It fuels our courage to speak truth to power, to stand in solidarity with the oppressed (especially when that is us), to imagine new ways of being in a world that so desperately needs transformation. Breathing deeply, fully, intentionally is an act of defiance against the forces that seek to dehumanize and destroy. It is a declaration that, even in the midst of the assault, we will not turn inward in fear but rather, we will move outward in love and action.

And so, I ask again: are you breathing?

Pause. Inhale deeply. Feel the expansion, the renewal, the Spirit moving within you. Hold it for a moment. Exhale slowly, releasing the tension, the fear, the doubt. Breathe again, and know that you are part of something larger than yourself. Know that your breath is a prayer, a connection to the Divine, and a source of strength as you step into the work of resistance and hope, a work we all must participate in as long as we have breath.

The road ahead will not be easy. The changes we are witnessing will reshape the contours of our world in ways we cannot yet fully understand. But as long as we have breath, we have life. As long as we have life, we have the capacity to hope, to dream, and to labor for the day when the realm of God—a realm of justice, peace, and equity—is not merely an aspiration but a reality.  As long as we breathe, we have the ability to keep practicing heaven now.

So, take a moment. Breathe. And then, let us rise together, filled with the Spirit, ready to resist, to create, to heal, and to transform.

One breath at a time.

In solidarity,

Pastor Robin

"Then the Lord God formed the human from the dust of the ground and breathed into its nostrils the breath of life, and the human became a living being." Genesis 2:7