In today’s meditation, we are going to invite you to breathe as a sacred act.


We will do this by focusing on passages from the bible which illustrate the power of our breath. These stories mean manyy different things to many different people. for the purposes of this meditation, it doesn’t much matter whether you view these as historical records, fairy tales, or somewhere in between. We would like to invite you to hold on to today to whatever you find beautiful and true in these stories; there is plenty of time, when you are not meditating, to wrestle with the specific questions of what they mean.


This meditation will come in three parts. We will first focus on the inhalation as a breathing-in of the breathe of life from God himself. We will then focus on the exhalation as a way of speaking God’s unnameable name. At the end, we will bring these two sacred acts together.


But before we begin: relax. Turn off your phone and close your eyes; sit comfortably and straight. Spend a moment, creating some mental space between this time now and the rest of your day. Make a decision to, as best you can, let go of your worries, stresses and fears.


In the quiet to come, take some time to enjoy the silence, breathe, in through the nose and out through the mouth.


(Two minutes)


Good. Now, let us consider the act of breathing in. Genesis, Chapter 2 says
“the Lord God formed the human[d]from the topsoil of the fertile land[e] and blew life’s breath into his nostrils. The human came to life.”




God mantains the world. The act of creation is on-going. Today, as you continue those slow and relaxed breaths, make a decision that you are breathing with Adam.
Inhale through your nose as Adam inhaled through his. Inhale life itself, a gift from god. As the air is used and spent, it becomes time to exhale, and so, do that now.
Inhale, when you are ready. Know that this was the very beginning of humanity. Exhale, knowing that breathing was our very first act, and has continued for thousand of years, an unbroken chain of ancestors, leading directly to you. And with Adam, and every generation that spans the time between him and you: inhale.
As you exhale, know that each life’s breath comes from the maker of the univeres. Inhale, feeling it move down the back of your throat and filling your lungs. Exhale, from your lungs, past your tongue and teeth, out your lips.
Inhale, again, feeling the breath from God moving your abdomen, and filling the lungs all the way up, from the bottom to the very top. And exhale, breathing out thislife from God.
We’ll observe some more silence now. Breathe with Adam, God’s breath, in through the nostrils, and exhaling through the mouth, again, and again.


(Two minutes)


Our out-breaths are no less sacred than our in-breath. As you continue to inhale the breath of life from God, consider these words from the book of Exodus.


14-15 God said to Moses:
I am the eternal God. So tell them that the Lord,[c] whose name is “I Am,” has sent you. This is my name forever, and it is the name that people must use from now on.


Different scholars have translated God’s name in different ways. One of the things these translations have in common is that they all point to the idea that God is saying he is larger than a name, that he is, in fact, unnameable.
Jewish Rabis and other Experts in Hebrew have also noted that it is not only the meaning of this word that is interesting. It is also the sounds in the original Hebrew. There are no teeth or tongue involved in making this word. It is a bit like an breath.
The meaning and the sound of this word work together. The truest way we might say God’s name is to not say any word at all. More amazing, though, even though no sound can do God justice, we say God’s name with every exhalation.
As you exhale now, do it with an awareness that this is God’s name. Exhale knowing that The moment you were born, the first thing you did was to say exhale, and say God’s name. And the moment before you die, it will be the last thing that you ever do. No matter how lost we have been, no matter how far we have ever felt from God, we have said his name, over, and over, and again.
Take some time, now, to exhale with an awareness that it is God’s name that you are saying.




(2 minutes)




Now, if you can, bring these two facts about your breath together. Each inhalation is breathed into your nostrils from the maker of the universe. Each of these breaths is life itself. They were breathed into the first person that ever was, and every person who has ever been.


In the silence to come, balance this by awareness of your inhalation by Knowing that each time you breath out, you are saying God’s name. He is not named by words, but something much more simple and intimate. You were made this way. To know his name, to say it with out saying it, through all of your life.
There is a synchonicty in all this. The inhale and the exhale, the giving and the taking. The memory of the very first breath in the very first person, and the recognition that you personally today are saying God’s name.


Take this time now, to recognize that the in breath and the out breath are both sacred acts, that you breathe in life from him, so that you might call his name out to him.


(2 minutes)


We hope that this time has been helpful and healing to you. As you step out of this sacred space that you have made for yourself, bring this calm back into your every day life. Remind yourself, through out your day, that you can return to this connection whenever you need it, simply by being aware that it is God who breathes into you, and as you breathe out, this is you calling to God.