Breathe

March 17, 2020
Got to spend a few minutes yesterday patching the tire on my wife’s car. Yes, picked up a foreign object somewhere along the way. Sheetrock screw in this case.

Now, patching a tire is kind of counter intuitive. First, you’re not patching, you’re plugging. Replacing an object that is letting air out with one that will keep air in. You pull the object out, listen to what precious air is left come hissing by, prepare the hole, and glue the plug in. Simple, right!?

Pulling the offending object out is easy. Usually a pair of pliers will do it. A brute force kinda thing.

The next step is the one that’s a little odd. It’s called, “make the hole bigger.” You see, the plug is a known size, but the damaging object could be anything (and if too big, the tire can’t be repaired). But with the plug being uniform, the hole needs to be uniform.

So you (rather savagely) have to drive this very coarse round file into the hole in the tire several times. Right, just ram a screwdriver like thing into your tire. Feel the steel belts slip by and hear the rubber almost crunch against the insult.

But then you have prepared the tire to be made whole. You coat the plug (a very tarred up piece of rope) with a generous amount of rubber cement, set it in a y-shaped tool, and drive the middle of it into the tire, leaving a quarter of it hanging out. And then you give it time, and then air the tire.

We are in a season where the church, the culture, and even ourselves as individuals feel pierced. Everything is deflated and has ceased working. Assemblies are cancelled, offices are closed. Classes abruptly finished, neighbors and friends drifting out of contact.

And even then, it seems we have to drive things even deeper, make them worse before we can make them better. Withdraw. Quarantine. Step into disorienting spaces and disruptions to our routines.

“Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies….” [John 12:24]

In his last week (lost in the chaos of our days is the fact that the faithful are walking in this Lenten season) Jesus shared these words with his disciples. He reminded them (and us) that “in this world you will have trouble”. [John 16:33]

The reaming out of the heart and habit is the preparation for the infilling of the greater Breath of Life. Not easy, but good.

In this season of disruption, of the rasp of social anxiety, fear and confusion feeling like they are running raw through us, we have a hope that “does not perish, spoil or fade” [1 Peter 1:4].

As every convention of society and how we have “always done church” falls to the wayside, let the main thing be the main thing, even as we find ourselves preparing new wineskins to bring the new wine of Jesus to our days. [Matthew 9:17]

I leave you with this simple but profound exhortation: (click to play)
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
– Helen Howarth Lemmel (1922)

Peace, my friends, in the high calling of love and grace. God has this!

Pastor Steve