The Vine February 2013 - York St Church of Christ

FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE
BREATH and SPIRIT
Did you know that right now as you read this
article you could be breathing in a molecule
of air that once travelled through the lungs
of Jesus? Scientists have estimated that 325
decillion molecules (32,500,000,000,000,000,00
0,000,000,000,000) passed through Jesus’ lungs
during his lifetime.
Dr. Martin St. Maurice concluded that there is a
possibility that we could be breathing the same
molecules of air today that Jesus breathed. He
wrote, “...All of these individual molecules are
constantly rearranged and recycled through
biochemical and geochemical processes, so you
aren’t breathing in the exact same gas molecules
that dinosaurs and Julius Caesar, or Jesus, once
breathed....Very little carbon, oxygen or nitrogen
is lost to outer space. It’s certainly possible to
imagine a scenario where you breathe in a molecule
of oxygen gas and in one of your cells it gets
combined with carbon from last night’s cupcake
to make carbon dioxide. Your exhaled molecule
of carbon dioxide is taken up by a young oak tree
and, with the help of sunlight, the carbon gets
converted into a molecule of cellulose that gets
locked into that tree’s biomass for years. Eventually,
over hundreds of years, that tree will grow, die
and decompose. As it decomposes, that atom
of carbon is released back to the atmosphere as
carbon dioxide and is used to generate oxygen
through photosynthesis. That newly formed
molecule of oxygen might be available to your
great-great grandchild. It’s not the same molecule
of oxygen that you breathed in years before, but it
could be traced back to atoms that once passed
through your body”
What is the significance of this to us as Christians
today? My answer is: ‘absolutely nothing’! Just
because we share an air molecule with Jesus does
not somehow connect us to Jesus in any spiritual
way. Something more fascinating to consider
though is this: what if Jesus could really breathe on
us today as he breathed on his disciples? What did
it mean for them to receive the Holy Spirit? What
does it mean for us to receive the Holy Spirit today?
24.
Misunderstanding about the Spirit’s role had led to
much confusion and extremism in the early Church.
So much so, that Paul felt the need to devote three
whole chapters of his Letter to the Corinthians to
correct the many wrong beliefs and practices that
had crept into the Church. His teaching is timeless,
and we do well to read his Letter again today so
that we can clearly understand that the Holy Spirit
has come, not to divide, but to unite the Church
and to assure that the work of God continues
according to the Father’s will.
In the insect world of termites we find an unlikely
analogy of the Holy Spirit. Here in Australia we
find some giant termite mounds that have been
constructed by these amazing little creatures.
Termites are acknowledged as the master
architects of the creature world and are able to
construct perfectly engineered towers with gold star
rated HVAC air conditioning systems that operate
without power or moving parts, and service some
3 million termites per colony. Dr Brand uses this
analogy and quotes from Lewis Thomas, “When
three or four termites are collected together in a
chamber, they wander about aimlessly, but when
more termites are added, they begin to build. It is
the presence of termites in sufficient numbers at
close quarters that produces the work. They pick
up each other’s faecal pellets and stack them in
neat columns, and when the columns are precisely
the right height, the termites reach across and turn
the perfect arches that form the foundation of the
termitarium. No single termite knows how to do any
of this, but as soon as there are enough termites....
they become flawless architects...building an
immensely complicated structure with its own airconditioning
and humidity control.”
Here we have an analogy of the Church working
together as a community. “In 2 Corinthians 13:14,
one of the few verses to name all the members
of the Trinity, Paul gives his benediction, ‘May the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of
God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with
you all.’ In a neat summary of the essence of the
triune God, he does not say ‘the power of the Holy