The Fresh Air of Hope
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
Jonathan Green, White Scarf
INVOCATION
Inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis
O Spirit, we have listened to fears. Come, breathe on us. Help us forget them, so we are brave once again.
CLOUD OF WITNESS
There’s a bible story about Jesus cursing a fig tree for not having any figs, even though it wasn’t the season for it to bear fruit.
Was Jesus throwing a temper-tantrum and having a meltdown? Was he inexplicably enraged for no apparent reason? Was he just “hangry”? Where did this out-of-the-blue curse come from?
Scholars have suggested that it is a prophetic sign of what’s to come when Jesus clears the temple. In the book of Jeremiah, Hosea, and Micah, the fig tree and its fruit are symbolic of Israel and its spiritual flourishing. Many conclude Jesus isn’t condemning the tree so much as he’s condemning the temple-keepers who didn’t welcome him.
If it’s as they contend, that Jesus’ actions were in fact a metaphor, then perhaps his curse was sending a message to the temple-keepers who let in the moneychangers: “Your roots are rotten, like a tree that never flourishes. Your presence gives people false hope. Season after season, they hope to have their hunger filled, but wind up being empty. Though they do all this work to keep you sufficiently watered, weeded, fertilized and cared for, you produce no fruit in return. You breathe their air and leave them hopeless.”
And so, Jesus entered the temple not only to throw over the tables, but to clear the air of despair and let in a fresh breeze of hope.
CALL & RESPONSE
Call: May the air we breathe fill our bodies with hope.
Response (Read Aloud): The Breath of God is the Air of Hope.
Call: May our bodies be vessels of hope.
Response (Read Aloud): Every divine breath we take is a divine act of hope.
CANTICLE
Prophesy over these bones! Say to them, ‘Dry bones! Hear what Adonai has to say! To these bones Adonai Elohim says, “I will make breath enter you, and you will live. I will attach ligaments to you, make flesh grow on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you. You will live, and you will know that I am Adonai.’
Ezekiel 37: 4-5
Speak! Sacred air!
Speak! Holy breath!
Speak truth to us! Swift wind!
Give us hope again.
Come North winds, and
Come South, West, East winds as well.
From every direction, breathe on us
so we may live in hope again.
BENEDICTION
Inhale deeply. Exhale slowly. Rest in hope again.
The longing of my heart. Come breathe on us again. And again. And again.
Hallelujah!